Michael Owen: I cried in Liverpool players' lounge over 'torture' of fans turning on me

At what cost? Michael Owen starred for Liverpool before joining Real Madrid in 2004
Getty Images
Tom Dutton7 February 2020

Michael Owen has revealed he will never recover from the "torture" of Liverpool fans turning on him following his move to Real Madrid, and later Manchester United.

Owen came through the youth system at Anfield and starred for the Reds, signing his first professional contract with the club in 1996 and twice winning the Premier League Golden Boot before going on to win four major trophies with the Reds in the early noughties.

In 2001, Owen became the first Englishman to win the Ballon d'Or in over 20 years. However, with his glowing reputation came admiring glances from Europe's elite clubs and it was when Real Madrid came calling that Owen's relationship with Liverpool fans turned bitter.

Owen moved to the Bernabeu to chase football's biggest silverware, but during his solitary season in Spain it was Liverpool who won European football's top prize, beating AC Milan on penalties in a remarkable Champions League final.

After a disappointing campaign in Madrid, the England striker returned to the Premier League with Newcastle.

"I have almost had to cut off, it has been painful going back to Anfield and hearing boos while I was at Newcastle," Owen told Jamie Carragher on 'The Greatest Game' podcast.

"Crying in the playing lounge and hoping nobody sees. You [Carragher] going public helped but it has been torture for a long time. It is like splitting up with your wife. I can only blame myself, I said yes to Real Madrid.

"I still love Liverpool. Different to you [Carragher], you are still at that club being idolised. I was you. And yet there is a polarised opinion because of me thinking I will go away for a year and all of a sudden it is all ruined."

Manchester United via Getty Imag

To further damage his relationship with Liverpool fans, Owen later joined their bitter rivals Manchester United. Despite pleas from former team-mate Carragher since, many Liverpool fans have never forgiven Owen for his decision to move to Spain, let alone the Old Trafford switch.

The striker won a Premier League title while at United in 2011, but the damage that spell did to his legacy at Anfield has left a wound he says he will never heal from.

"If I am walking along the Kop, they're saying ‘you are an effing Manc’ or whatever and I have got to live with that now and it bloody hurts," Owen added.

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"It has killed me for ages and the wound will never go. I can’t do anything about what is in my heart, sadly because it would be brilliant for me, I would live a lovely peaceful happy life if I could say ‘I don’t care then’ but the problem is I do.

"I know who my club is but I can’t change what I have done. I made the decision, I am not blaming anyone.

"Any one of those 60,000 fans at Anfield have got the ability to break my heart. You can’t help now, looking at players past and present, players who have done jack s*** for the club who now have a job with the club. If they turn up at the centre circle they get their name sung."

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