Soccer: Houllier confident of winning fifth trophy

Liverpool will attempt to create another little bit of history when they confront Europe’s champion club in the Super Cup amongst the rich and the great in Monte Carlo.

No English club side has ever won five major trophies in one calendar year, yet Liverpool could achieve that feat in just six months.

And you can be dead certain that Anfield boss Gerard Houllier wants that on his ever growing CV when Liverpool face Bayern Munich at the Stade Louis II ground on the richest waterfront you are ever likely to see.

Houllier said: ‘‘The European Super Cup means a lot to me and this club. It’s a trophy and we are about winning trophies.’’

The Frenchman has made it clear that his priorities are the Premiership and the Champions League.

After disposing of Finnish champions FC Haka with the minimum of fuss, the Reds will be confident of advancing beyond the first group stage of Europe’s premier competition at the first attempt, having been paired with 1997 winners Borussia Dortmund, Dynamo Kiev and Portuguese minnows Boavista.

But despite the obvious distraction, Houllier has made it pretty clear he fancies the Super Cup too.

The prestige from it for Liverpool would be immense, and if they can beat the Germans, it would be a massive feather in their caps.

It would also give an extra edge to next weekend’s World Cup qualifying clash between the two old enemies, with so many of the combatants here at Monaco’s quaint ground likely to be facing each other next Saturday.

The Germany-England equation is not lost on Houllier, who joked: ‘‘Maybe I will only play the foreigners this time and leave out the English lads with next week in mind.

‘‘It means a lot and I certainly believe all my players really want to win this one.’’

For the four times winners of the European Cup to make their return to the real elite, this is as good a place as any after their belated appearance in the Champions League draw.

Monaco has glamour, prestige, sunshine and money, money, money.

And Liverpool want all of that now. A Super Cup victory would be the perfect launch pad.

Liverpool - who are assured of around £11m for reaching the group stages - have watched with envy as Manchester United have played 69 Champions League ties over the past eight years.

And it’s the vast wealth which has found it’s way to Old Trafford because of that fabulously consistent run, that the once-mighty Anfield men want desperately now.

Michael Owen, on a hot scoring streak, didn’t even figure in Tuesday’s third qualifying win over Haka and was clearly being held back for tomorrow’s extravaganza.

‘‘Every member of the staff in the camp knows what we want to achieve here,’’ said Houllier.

‘‘It’s a long term process and we must keep going forward and improving our football.

‘‘The last time we lost in an official game was against Leeds in April, and we prepare for every game in the same way.

‘‘That’s why even in a pre-season tournament in Amsterdam when we lost to Ajax, we were sick about it. We don’t want to lose any game, we want a winning habit.’’

The game has extra meaning for Liverpool’s former Bayern duo Markus Babbel and Dietmar Hamann.

Babbel said: ‘‘I really enjoyed my time with Bayern, and I have a lot of friends at Munich and it will be nice to see them all again.

‘‘Bayern are a great side and if we beat them it will give our confidence a massive boost.’’

Bayern will be without injured stars Steffan Effenberg and Mehmet Scholl, but Liverpool will no doubt run into newest England international Owen Hargreaves, French star Bixente Lizarazu and keeper Oliver Kahn.

‘‘The Germans are always good sides,’’ said Houllier.

‘‘You always think you are on top of them, but they always seem to end up winning the game.’’

Houllier will have to do without Patrik Berger, who will will travel to America to visit top knee specialist Richard Steadman for a further examination on possible cartilage damage to a knee which has already been operated on twice.