With 183 Liverpool goals to his name, Robbie Fowler has a highlight reel to rival the greatest finishers ever – but which goal was his favourite for the club?
Sitting seventh on Liverpool’s all-time top scorers list, Fowler averaged a goal every other game across his two spells at the club.
His lethal left foot was the main driver behind his goalscoring, but Fowler could finish with his right and head too.
Asked which of the 183 strikes was his best for the Reds, Fowler told This Is Anfield: “Any goal against Everton or Man United was always brilliant, but I always say my best one was probably against Charlton, last game of the season.”
Fowler was referring to the final match of the 2000/01 campaign in which Liverpool won three trophies and finished third in the Premier League.
Three days after beating Alaves to the UEFA Cup in Dortmund, the Reds were back at it and travelling down to London for an important match at The Valley.
“So we’d won all the cups,” Fowler continued.
“We’d won the League Cup, we’d won the FA Cup and we’d won the UEFA Cup, but Liverpool as a club hadn’t been in the Champions League for a number of years, top European competition, and we needed to win the last game to qualify.
“I think Leeds (who finished fourth) had a relatively easy home game that was more or less guaranteed three points for them, but we had a tough game away at Charlton where we didn’t have a particularly great record, never particularly done well.
2001: Robbie Fowler celebrates vs. Man United
“On the back of what we’d done, I scored against Charlton at The Valley and I always say that one [was my favourite goal].”
Liverpool won the match 4-0, but for 54 minutes Charlton kept Gerard Houllier‘s side at bay. That was until Fowler produced a moment of magic.
Gary McAllister delivered an outswinging corner that was pushed away to Fowler who, facing his own goal, hooked the ball back over his head for it to loop into the top corner.
Fowler recalled: “It wasn’t a brilliant goal. It was an overhead kick but it wasn’t a Pele overhead kick, but I think why it was my best goal is probably because of what it meant for the team.
“It’s certainly not an individual goal and it’s not about me and it never was about me, it was all about the team and that’s why I always pick that as my favourite.”
After the opener, Liverpool were comfortable. Danny Murphy scored the next before Fowler netted again and Michael Owen capped a great second half by making it 4-0 in the 80th minute.
The result meant the Reds finished third and would play in Europe’s top competition for the first time in 16 years.
Fowler scored 17 goals in all competitions across the 2000/01 season, as he captained the Reds to three trophies while battling for a starting spot alongside Owen and Emile Heskey.
The fact that the striker picked this goal against Charlton – still a very clever finish – reflects his love for Liverpool and how everything he did was for the team, not himself.