Michael Owen admitted after scoring his first Manchester
United hat-trick that he is loving life at Old Trafford, despite
not plaing regularly.
Owen scored his first Champions League treble since 2003 in
Tuesday night's 3-1 win over Wolfsburg in Germany.
The result confirmed United as Group B winners, which should
ensure a more favourable knockout round draw, even if AC Milan and
Porto are already among the potential opponents for Sir Alex
Ferguson's men.
It was a remarkable result given the Red Devils were without 14
senior players but it turned out perfectly for Owen, whose last
hat-trick in the competition came against Spartak Moscow in his
Liverpool days.
In their way, all three were typical Owen efforts. The first was
a header after the 29-year-old had found space to meet Nani's
cross, the second a simple far-post tap in after Gabriel Obertan
had weaved his way into the Wolfsburg box.
The third was his favourite though. Sent through by Obertan,
Owen darted from the halfway line in the manner of old before
calmly chipping Wolfsburg keeper Diego Benaglio.
It took Owen's tally since his surprise summer arrival at Old
Trafford to seven and the visiting contingent at the Volkswagen
Arena responded in enthusiastic manner.
"I am enjoying playing for Manchester United," said the
29-year-old.
"There are only a few teams that you can play in and expect to
get chances. This is one of them.
"Scoring them is a different matter. As everyone knows, scoring
goals is probably the hardest thing to do in the game.
"But given the quality you are playing alongside and the amount
of chances you do get, it is easier here than at most clubs."
Owen's chances of going to the World Cup appear to be slim given
he has not been picked by Fabio Capello since the friendly defeat
by France in March 2008, the second game of the Italian's 21-match
reign.
However, the Italian is bound to have taken notice of Owen's
performance, even if the player himself is reluctant to discuss
it.
"I have never liked talking about myself too much," he said.
"I always prefer to talk about the team.
"It is nice to score a hat-trick and the last one was probably
the best but you can't do something like that without the team
playing really well and a big credit must go out to the other lads,
especially in defence given we had so many injuries."