'Easily the Best' - English Icon Michael Owen Named Toughest Goalkeeper He Faced

· GiveMeSport

England football legend Michael Owen named a Man Utd icon as the toughest goalkeeper he faced.

Three Lions icon Michael Owen certainly knew how to find the back of the net. After all, he claimed the Premier League Golden Boot twice during the late 90s. Over the course of his career, he scored goals for Liverpool , Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United, Stoke City, and England.

He ended his career with 222 senior goals at club level, along with another 40 for England, making him one of the greatest finishes the Three Lions have ever produced . Put simply, very few goalkeepers managed to keep Owen quiet consistently during his prime years.

However, there was one goalkeeper who particularly stood out to the former Liverpool star as an opponent he found difficult to beat.

When putting together his perfect XI featuring the greatest footballers of all time, Owen selected Peter Schmeichel in goal . The Danish goalkeeper was not simply someone Owen wanted in his side; he also described the former Man United star as the finest shot-stopper he had ever faced:

> "Of all the keepers I have played against, Peter was easily the best - an all-round great. You can’t be a great by just being a good shot-stopper, you have to have it all – and he did."

Owen is known to have a tough relationship with the man in question.

Owen never shared the pitch with Schmeichel as a teammate, although he eventually became a Man United player himself. Following his departure from Newcastle in 2009, he spent three seasons with the Red Devils and scored 17 goals.

By then, injuries had significantly affected his career and he was no longer at his peak. Yet a move to Old Trafford could have happened much earlier. In fact, during his youth, the Englishman even lied to Sir Alex Ferguson's face , claiming he wanted to join Manchester United before ultimately choosing Liverpool.

"I'll never forget it", Owen recalled. "Sir Alex Ferguson, when I was only very young, and he literally looked me in the eye in his office at Old Trafford, again on game day. And he just looked at me and said, 'Do you want to play for Manchester United?' And I was like, 'yes,' type of thing. But obviously, you know, deep down I was a Liverpool fan at that time."

> "I'd been playing at the club so you know, I basically paid him lip service. Later, obviously, I would go on to play for him, for Manchester United. But of course, at the time, I was just interested in playing for Liverpool."

If Owen had played alongside Schmeichel during the best years of his career, it could have added another outstanding attacking option to an already formidable Manchester United side. Ferguson himself believed that the Dane was the best goalkeeper to ever play for the Red Devils . With Schmeichel guarding the goal and Owen providing the finishing at the other end, it would have been a formidable combination.

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