It put him in enough space to look up and measure a cross that Heskey hit from six yards to record Liverpool's first goal in Europe's premier competition since their ill-fated 1984-85 European Cup campaign and the Heysel disaster. After struggling for a sight of Andras Vilnrotter's goal in a tedious opening half- hour, Liverpool suddenly began slicing through Haka's defence at will.
Haka's offside trap had the desired stifling effect in the early stages and looked like frustrating Liverpool out of their stride until Heskey's breakthrough changed the complexion of the tie.
Indeed, Liverpool carved out three glorious opportunities in as many minutes to put the outcome beyond doubt before half-time.
When the alert Heskey robbed Janne Makela by the touchline and played Patrik Berger into the area in the 37th minute, a stretched Haka defence found themselves at the mercy of Jari Litmanen. But the Finland forward was denied a dream goal on his homecoming as his shot from Berger's pass was clawed down by Vilnrotter.
Owen at last sprang the offside trap in the 39th minute but was foiled by another smart save by Vilnrotter. Seconds later, Owen suffered more misery as Liro Aalto's tackle from behind stopped him in his tracks with the goal gaping.
Litmanen put Owen clear on the right for Liverpool's second goal in the 56th minute and ten minutes later, with Haka's offside ploy beginning to wilt, the England striker struck their third.
He timed his move to perfection to reach Berger's chipped throughball-before Vilnrotter and dart around the goalkeeper to score.
With the bulk of a 33,000 crowd made up of Scandinavian Liverpool fans, the fourth goal in the 87th minute from Sami Hyypia went down well as the Finland defender made the most of a cross from Gary McAllister.
The cheer was matched a minute later as the popular Owen completed his hat-trick by latching on to a Berger pass and beating Vilnrotter with another low drive.
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