Time for Owen to break his away duck

A year to the day after Liverpool basked in the glow of success in the Worthington Cup final – the first of five trophies in six months for Gérard Houllier – Michael Owen watched incredulously from the team's hotel as snow flurries bombarded the Bosporus in a manner more redolent of Inverness or Immingham than Istanbul.

Only two prizes now remain within the theoretical grasp of a Liverpool side who face Galatasaray here tonight with Phil Thompson still in charge as Houllier recovers from heart surgery. However, since they are the European Cup and the Premiership, there was no nostalgia for the Millennium Stadium nor envy of Graeme Souness's victory as Owen waited for the "British" weather to relent ahead of evening training.

Pursuing Manchester United and Arsenal on the domestic front, Liverpool go into the fourth of six fixtures in the second phase of the Champions' League trailing Barcelona, Roma and the Turkish champions at the foot of Group B. Owen, normally as cautious with his answers as he is bold on the ball, all but admitted it was a must-win match. Yet the England striker was adamant that the relinquishing of their grip on the Worthington, FA and Uefa Cups did not represent failure, even if there were no additions to Anfield's silverware collection.

"Reaching the Champions' League was our big goal because everyone wanted to test themselves against the best," Owen said. "We want to progress every year and the Premiership tells you if you've done that. As long as there's an improvement every year, hopefully it won't be too long before we achieve our main goals of winning this competition and the League.

"The experience in the Champions' League has been good. The better the opposition, the more you improve as a player and a team. We finished top of our group in the first round – with hindsight, we might have been in an easier group now if we'd come second – and, while we'd prefer a few more points, it's so tight that we're still in there with a chance."

Was the visit to Galatasaray a make-or-break affair for Liverpool? "Not quite," replied Owen. "We're hoping eight points may be enough to get us into the quarter-finals, so we need a couple of wins from the next three games." Owen, having underlined his penchant for scoring on the big occasion by curling in Liverpool's opening goal of the first phase, has found the net just once in five subsequent appearances. The time would seem right for him to break his away duck in the tournament, and in so doing land a psychological blow for England before they face Turkey in the qualifying for Euro 2004.

The task promises to be an arduous one. Galatasaray have won 16 and lost none of 18 matches in the Ali Sami Yen Stadium this season, and are unbeaten in 19 European home games since Chelsea's 5-0 win in 1999. Although the capacity is down to 22,000, the Uefa Cup defeat of Leeds two years ago in April, on a night when their followers might have been expected to be subdued after the killing of two English fans, highlighted their ability to generate an intimidating tumult.

Thompson, gnarled old campaigner that he is, was unsure whether to be "delighted or disappointed" by the absence of the customary "Welcome to Hell" banners at the airport. "They presented me with flowers," he said. "The only downside has been the snow, and the forecast is better for the match."

The caretaker manager believes Liverpool possess the experience to cope with the cacophony, much as his generation did. "I was involved in games where the noise was so intense that it was difficult to shout to one another. One was in Turkey, at Trabzon, with the crowd hanging out of trees. There were others behind the Iron Curtain. But that's what it's all about."

Chris Kirkland, 20, continues in goal for the injured Jerzy Dudek, with Gary McAllister set to continue in place of Steven Gerrard and Emile Heskey returning alongside Owen for the ineligible Nicolas Anelka in what looks certain be a formation designed for quickfire counter-attacking. Galatasaray, badly affected by injuries, may bring in Arif Erdem and a Romanian, Radu Niculescu, for the suspended Emre Asik and Umit Karan.

"Because of the qualities we've got and what we've achieved over the past 18 months, I know we're capable of winning here," asserted Thompson. "When we drew 0-0 with them last week we saw enough of Galatasaray to know we can win. Chelsea's result here shows what can be done. We proved we can be reputation-wreckers before and I'm hopeful it can continue."

Galatasaray (4-4-2, probable): Mondragon; Perez, Bulent Korkmaz, Vedat Inceefe, Victoria; Fleurquin, Ergun Penbe, Berkant Goktan, Hasan Sas; Arif Erdem, Niculescu.

Liverpool (4-4-2; probable): Kirkland; Abel Xavier, Henchoz, Hyypia, Carragher; Murphy, Hamann, McAllister, Riise; Owen, Heskey.

Referee: U Meier (Switzerland).