If Cissé hoped that his performance had rescued his career at Anfield, he did not have to wait long for more bad news. Benítez had no sooner presented the France striker with a plaque for man of the match than he was declining the opportunity to say that he wants to keep Cissé.

“We spoke before but I told Djibril we have not had any offers,” the Liverpool manager said. “Maybe he will have a lot of offers now after scoring two goals.”

Benítez declined to shed any light on the imminent comings and goings at Anfield but Liverpool will hold more talks with Real Madrid this weekend over the purchase of Owen. As for Cissé, there has been a lack of firm bids and Liverpool are reluctant to allow a £14 million purchase to go out on loan.

“Two goals is important for me because there was a lot of speculation lately about me and my position at the club,” he said. “There is no question of me leaving the team. I hope to fulfil the contract I signed with Liverpool and stay another three years.”

Although the Liverpool fans long for Owen to come back to Anfield, it was Cissé’s name that was being sung near the final whistle. He enjoyed some luck with both his goals but was by far his side’s most effective striker, bringing pace, power and purpose to the European champions once he arrived in the 79th minute, scoring almost immediately thanks to a ricochet off his hand and then taking two attempts to add another in the first half of extra time.

It was his cross which allowed Luis García to head his team’s third in the 109th minute and his celebrations, which appeared to include a pointed stare at the bench, reflected the strain he has been under as Benítez looks to reshape his attack.

This must have been the first time that Liverpool fans have been outnumbered at a European final. CSKA’s supporters were here in force, including Roman Abramovich. The Stade Louis II draws an unusually wealthy clientele at any time but last night must have set records for the number of gowns and posh frocks worn to a football match. Rather than coaches, there was an endless queue of luxury cars dropping off Russian fans.

They had a goal to cheer before half-time although it was against the run of play. Liverpool had enjoyed 67 per cent of possession in the first half, shooting nine times to the Russian’s two attempts on goal. Only one of those had been on target but it gave CSKA the lead as Daniel Carvalho beat the offside trap and evaded José Reina before rolling his shot into an unguarded net.

It was the classic sucker punch from a team happy to sit back and hit on the counter-attack through their trio of quick forwards. At the other end, Liverpool showed plenty of attacking intent but the waywardness of their shooting once again strengthened the argument for the return of Owen.

Luis García had been chosen to play up front alongside Fernando Morientes but the former could not shoot on target, while the latter, who had rated only three out of ten against CSKA Sofia in midweek, was little better. Liverpool lacked a cutting edge until Cissé arrived to raise more questions ahead of the transfer deadline.

LIVERPOOL (4-4-1-1): J Reina — Josemi, S Hyypia, J Carragher, J A Riise (sub: D Cissé, 79) — S Finnan (sub: F Sinama Pongolle, 55min), D Hamann, X Alonso (sub: M Sissoko, 71), B Zenden — L García — F Morientes. Substitutes not used: S Carson, S Warnock. Booked: Zenden, Josemi, Hyypia, Pongolle.

CSKA MOSCOW (3-4-2-1): I Akinfeev — V Berezutskiy, S Ignashevich, A Berezutskiy — Odiah Chidi (sub: R Gusev, 90), E Aldonin, E Rahimic, Y Zhirkov (sub: D Semberas, 66) — D Carvalho, M Krasic (sub: Dudu, 83) — V Love. Substitutes not used: V Mandrikin, R Gusev, S Samodin. Booked: Dudu.

Referee: R Temmink (Netherlands).