Owen hat-trick secures Liverpool win in Moscow

Striker Michael Owen has scored a hat-trick to give Liverpool a battling 3-1 Group B victory at Spartak Moscow and boost the English side's chances of reaching the second stage of the Champions League.

Liverpool fell behind early on but Owen's treble earned three vital points with two games remaining.

The win gives them seven points from four games. Basel have four with Valencia leading the way on nine. The two meet later on Tuesday in Switzerland. Spartak remain without a point.

Liverpool had gone top of the English premier league at the weekend but looked sluggish on a cold night in Moscow.

They conceded their first goal in five games -- Spartak's first in four Champions League matches -- when 18-year-old Aleksandr Danishevski took advantage of some slack marking to shoot past Jerzy Dudek in the 23rd minute.

Gerard Houllier's team equalised six minutes later when Owen headed home a Jamie Carragher cross.

Liverpool struggled to create chances in the second half and Spartak, thumped 5-0 at Anfield three weeks ago, looked capable of causing an upset.

But Owen scrambled Liverpool ahead in the 70th minute after big defender Sami Hyypia had caused problems at a Danny Murphy free kick.

With Spartak committing men forward Owen completed his hat-trick in injury time, sweeping in another Murphy cross after a great team move.

"They started stronger than us, maybe they had a point to prove," said Houllier.

"So then you have to try to contain them, not force things and make sure when the opportunities come you take them -- and Michael was the difference of course."

"He has played two outstanding games against Moscow. He didn't score in the home game but played very well and today he has scored three goals away in Europe, which is quite a performance."

"A few weeks ago he was getting criticised for not scoring but he scores important goals."

Owen, who scored another hat-trick in a 3-0 league win over Manchester City last month, said the pitch had made it difficult for Liverpool to play their usual passing game.

"It wasn't easy," he said. "When we trained yesterday the pitch was a bit like Slovakia when we played for England."

"The water was taken out but it was still very soft, there were a lot of bobbly balls, so it was good to grind out a result."

Spartak assistant coach Victor Samokhin put the defeat down to poor defending.

"We made kids' mistakes," he said.

Liverpool's next game is at home to Valencia next Wednesday and they finish off away to Basel on November 12.

Spartak, who cannot qualify for the second stage, are at home to Basel next and then visit Valencia.