Michael Owen: The Tragedy Of The World's Youngest Ballon D'or

Just 3 days after his 22nd birthday, Michael Owen stepped on the red carpet of Paris, surpassing the following legendary names and becoming the youngest player to receive the prestigious Ballon D’or in the nominations that year. But just a few years later, this name has made many fans regret it. Today, let's learn about the tragic story of this former English striker with ANZFootball live football streaming!

Super prodigy English football

On an evening on December 17, 2001 in the brilliant Paris capital on the podium of the European Ballon D’or, the name Michael Owen was suddenly raised in the category of the Ballon D’or for Men. He stepped on the red carpet in Paris at the warm call of the host, attracting all the eyes of hundreds of people present at the Gala Awards night that day before smiling brightly with the title of Golden Ball in hand.

A total of 176 votes came from experts, reputable journalists and players who were able to turn the Liverpool striker into the most worthy person with the prestigious title. Looking at the list of 9 people ranked behind Owen in the 2001 election, all are players who later went into legends of the football village.

Owen was the youngest of these to win overall. Clearly, the award given to Owen was well deserved. He scored more than 30 goals, making a great contribution to helping Liverpool win a total of 4 championship titles: FA Cup, League Cup, European Cup and European Super Cup.

2001 is also a milestone marking Owen's explosive growth in the national team. Not to mention his hat-trick that helped England beat Germany 5-1 right in Munich to win tickets to the 2002 World Cup finals.

Play less, score more

Less than three years after that historic moment with Liverpool, Owen announced he wanted to leave the Merseyside team to move to Real Madrid at the invitation of president Florentino Luis. A promising future will be drawn by the construction mogul for Owen's life as he will become a new star in the Galacticos.

Back in 2017, coach Jurgen Klopp said this to Philippe Coutinho when the Brazilian midfielder wanted to move to Barcelona: Stay here and people will erect a statue in your honor. If you go to another place like Barcelona, Bayern Munich, or Real Madrid, you will be just an ordinary player like everyone else.

In the summer of 2004, teammate Jamie Carragher gave Owen similar advice. However, Owen's aggressiveness made him want to prove to all that that assumption was completely wrong. After all, with only 8 million pounds with the name Antonio Nunez arriving at Anfield in the opposite direction, Real Madrid owned the best striker Liverpool and England at that time. Despite the pain, the Liverpool leadership had no choice because if they didn't sell Owen in the summer of 2004, they would lose him in the next 6 months.

Until two decades passed, everyone thought that the moment Owen left Liverpool was the moment that killed the career of the best striker in English football history. However, that does not mean that Owen is a complete failure of Real Madrid, but simply that the two did not belong together.

The 2004/05 season was the only season Owen played for Los Blancos. Meanwhile, the Madrid team itself also became a mess with the internal change of generals three times. Despite not having a solid fulcrum when often having to substitute for the duo Ronaldo and Raul, Owen still left his mark with a total of 16 goals in all competitions, becoming the second highest goal scorer for Real that season.

Unfortunately, Owen did not win any titles with Real Madrid in that short time. The Bernabeu team only finished second in La Liga, and soon stopped in the Champions League and King's Cup.

Lost in Spain

In the end, Owen decided to leave the club after a year. And the main reason he made that choice was because he was fed up with the boring life in Spain. Amidst a group of mostly indigenous and South American players, Owen feels lost due to language differences and disagreements in his lifestyle. The guy is not a public figure like David Beckham - the star landed at Real with the ambition not only to shine on the pitch but also to develop his own image.

Meanwhile, his wife is also tired of daily locking herself in a hotel with her 2-year-old daughter waiting for her husband to return from training. Once, even after a late game, Owen got his wife's phone and said he'd be home in 15 minutes. Every five minutes, Owen's phone rings with a voice saying “Is he on his way?”

A boredom pervaded the Owen family's time in Madrid. No friends, not just picnics with loved ones. Owen wants to return to the land of fog and the first destination on his mind is Liverpool. But at that time, the Red Brigade could not meet the transfer request from Real Madrid. They wanted Owen to wait patiently, and he wanted to leave Real Madrid immediately.

The halo is lost

The only team that seriously asked the question and was willing to meet the fee of £ 16 million was Newcastle. Owen could turn down Newcastle because the size of the magpie is not commensurate with his talent. However, haste cost Owen too much. In his first season playing for Newcastle, Owen suffered a knee injury and could only appear in a total of 11 matches. Fortunately, he still left a mark with 7 goals in the Premier League.

As Newcastle fans waited for their blockbuster contract to come back stronger the next season, fate struck the striker born in 1979. He relapsed with a knee injury at the 2006 World Cup and returned to the club in a state of being unable to train and play. It was a very serious injury that cost Owen almost the entire 2006/07 season to treat.

However, even when trying their best to return to the pitch, there are still obstacles that no one can expect. One day in late March 2007, he was excited when coach Glenn Roeder announced his training schedule with the team. However, after only 10 minutes of warm-up, Owen left again with the announcement that president Freddy Shepherd did not want him to practice too soon.

Initially, Owen took it as an interest. But when this happens every day, he feels angry that he is not respected and trusted. The climax was Owen's contact with Freddy to prevent him from practicing. Shepherd explained that if the insurance companies see Owen returning to play, they will not accept payment of Owen's full salary while on medical leave. He shouted curses into the phone, and Shepherd was equally angry:

Do you know how high your salary is? Now I suggest you hide in the toilet for 5 minutes, I don't want any camera lens to capture you.

After all, no matter how frustrated, Owen is the one to give in. He only had time to play in the last 3 matches before the 2006/07 season ended. And this is also the only season Owen failed to score any goals in his career.

Although with Newcastle for another two years, his mark during this time is also very faint. The English player is clearly a failed Newcastle signing.

Victims of trauma

Michael Owen was wrong to move to Real Madrid and Newcastle, but injuries are the root of all problems. No one is sure that he will rise to the top to continue playing at Liverpool.

Behind the elegant suit on the night of the 2001 Ballon D'or Awards is his legs with countless surgical scars. Fans do not know the times he had to take painkillers to step out on the field and that was the cause of a series of injuries later.

Becoming famous too soon made Owen have to constantly plow to compete when he was too young. On the other hand, in a tournament where there are often fierce disputes like the Premier League, the type of player who possesses a rich style of play will constantly have to receive destructive tackles. At that time, the technology was not yet developed, so the players were not protected the best.

Owen is not the first to receive pain. The careers of Joe Cole, Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere were also gradually destroyed by injuries. If completely fine, Owen's career in both club and national team will be much brighter. But at least, he is still lucky to have the opportunity to win the Premier League with Manchester United in 2011, although his contribution to the team of Alex Ferguson is not much.

Two decades have passed since the young striker took to the stage to receive the Ballon d'Or, and yet no English player has the talent to do the same. And every time they have the opportunity to talk about Michael Owen, those who love English football feel regret and pity.