Football-Liverpool lead 3-1 at halftime
DORTMUND, Germany (Reuters) - Liverpool made a dream start to the UEFA Cup final against Alaves, with a Markus Babbel header giving them a 1-0 lead after just four minutes.
Emile Heskey, chasing on to a Sami Hyypia clearance, won a freekick to the right of the area and Gary McAllister floated in the freekick for the German defender to nod in comfortably.
It was a sixth goal of the season for Babbel but his first in Liverpool's run to the UEFA Cup.
Liverpool, chasing their third trophy of the season, made a more relaxed start against an Alaves side playing their first European final.
The Spanish side were struggling to keep hold of the ball early on.
The inclusion of the 36-year-old Scot McAllister in place of Vladimir Smicer was the only change to the Liverpool team from Saturday's FA Cup final win over Arsenal.
LIVERPOOL MAKE IT TWO
As the game wore on Alaves began to look more comfortable.
Oscar Tellez cracked in a freekick that Sander Westerveld did well to turn round the post on 13 minutes.
Jordi Cruyff, formerly of Manchester United, appeared to have set Delfi Geli clear down the left two minutes later but the former Atletico Madrid midfielder was ruled offside.
Just when it looked like Alaves were gaining a foothold, Liverpool made it 2-0.
Michael Owen received a pass from Dietmar Hamann with his back to goal and held up the ball before slipping a pass into the path of Steven Gerrard on the right.
The England international midfielder swept his shot past Martin Herrera to give Liverpool a stunning start.
ALAVES SCORE
Alaves reacted by sending on Ivan Alonso in place of Dan Eggen, a forward for a defender, and the tactic paid dividends in the 27th minute as Alaves made it 2-1.
Romanian international fullback Cosmin Contra, venturing forward for the first time, got the better of Danny Murphy and crossed to the far post where Alonso headed past Westerveld.
McAllister had earlier tried to set Owen clear on goal with a long pass only for Antonio Karmona to cut out the danger.
Alaves had their tails up after the goal and started pressing the Liverpool defence back.
On 32 minutes another Contra cross was missed by the Liverpool defence and only a last-gasp covering tackle from Babbel prevented Javi Moreno getting a clear shot on goal.
From the resulting corner Westerveld had to be alert again to save a piledriver from Tellez with his chest.
MCALLISTER SCORES PENALTY
And Moreno gave the English side a real let-off on 36 minutes as he raced clear on goal only to shoot straight at Liverpool's Dutch keeper.
But against the run of play, Liverpool made it 3-1 just before halftime.
Owen, running on to a long ball from midfield, turned past Herrera on the right edge of the box and as he cut back inside the keeper was adjudged to have brought him down.
Herrera was booked and McAllister stepped up to crack in the spot kick low to the keeper's left and inside the post.
The score stayed 3-1 as the referee blew his whistle to bring to an end one of the most entertaining first halves of a European final in recent memory.
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