Soccer: Haka tie is most important for years - Fowler

Robbie Fowler believes Liverpool’s Champions League clash with little FC Haka from Finland is more important than any game the club have faced in years.

Fowler got his hands on three trophies last season as Liverpool landed a unique treble.

But the club’s vice captain - who skippered the side to FA Cup, Worthington Cup and UEFA Cup triumphs - believes a tie against Finnish part-timers is more important than all the glittering silver from last season.

Liverpool would normally look upon a run-out against Finland’s champions Haka - a club with a 2,800-capacity ground that means they must play big games in the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki - as a gentle pre-season jaunt.

But Haka - coached by Englishman Keith Armstrong - block Liverpool’s path to the promised land of the Champions League group stages.

And that is why Fowler believes tomorrow’s first leg in Helsinki and the return at Anfield in a fortnight, are more important to Liverpool’s future than all three of last term’s cups put together.

He said: ‘‘We now have two very, very important games - as big as anything I have played for many years. I dread to think what will happen if we don’t get a good result.

‘‘We have given ourselves a good shout at reaching our aims, we just have to get through and achieve what we set out to do.’’

The cup treble was a means to an end for Liverpool - to re-establish themselves as genuine trophy challengers again.

Qualifying for the Champions League as the Premiership’s third club, gives them the opportunity to rejoin Europe’s true elite again after a 16-year absence.

Fowler said: ‘‘You worry about what will happen if we don’t get a good result, but we are confident and we know it is down to us to do what is expected of us.

‘‘We do not feel like we are in the Champions League yet. We know what we have done so far isn’t enough, none of the lads think we are actually there yet and there is another team standing in our way.

‘‘We will do everything to get into the real first stages. It will be hard and we know there is still work to be done.’’

He added: ‘‘What we achieved last year surpassed all our expectations, but the main aim was getting into the Champions League, with the cups a bonus even if they were magnificent to win.

‘‘Now all the fuss is over about who we are actually supposed to be playing at this stage, we must make sure that we do not slip up at Haka.’’