Dominic Matteo, Steve Staunton, Brad Friedel and Stig Inge Bjørnebye. The efforts yielded a result in the successful 2000–01 season, when Liverpool won a cup treble of the League Cup, the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup and finished third in the Premier League, hence qualifying for Champions League. In August 2001, Liverpool won the Charity Shield against Manchester United and UEFA Super Cup against Bayern Munich. In October 2001, after falling ill at half-time at Liverpool's Premier League match with Leeds United, Houllier was rushed to hospital for an emergency operation due to the discovery of a heart condition, an aortic dissection. With the help of caretaker manager Phil Thompson, he guided Liverpool to a second-place finish in the 2001–02 FA Premier League season, at the time their best record in the Premiership. Houllier returned to active management of the club after five months, although significantly weakened by the heart condition. In the 2002—03 season, Liverpool finished in the fifth place in the Premier League, failing to qualify for the following season's UEFA Champions League after a final-day defeat to Chelsea. Critics blamed Houllier's unsuccessful summer signings in 2002, namely El Hadji Diouf (Lens, £10 million), Salif Diao (Sedan, £5 million) and Bruno Cheyrou (Lille, £4 million), and his failure to make Nicolas Anelka's loan move permanent in favour of signing the ineffective Diouf. Houllier's failure to replace creative talents such as Gary McAllister and Jari Litmanen was also criticised. In March 2003, Liverpool defeated Manchester United 2–0 in the League Cup Final. In October 2003, Houllier appointed Steven Gerrard club captain. With Liverpool failing to mount a title challenge in his last two seasons despite substantial investment in players with what was perceived as negative one-dimensional tactics and unattractive football, a poor youth policy, his constant mention of "turning corners" and a lack of support from fans, these factors led to Houllier's departure from Liverpool on 24 May 2004. Having qualified the club for the following season's Champions League, Houllier left Liverpool by mutual consent, after reluctantly agreeing to a board request that he leave the club. He was replaced by Valencia coach Rafael Benítez. Lyon On 29 May 2005, it was announced that Houllier had signed a two-year contract as manager of the champions of Ligue 1, succeeding Paul Le Guen. Olympique Lyonnais had just won their previous fourth successive championship and Houllier was hired to convert