Gerrard’s top eight moments in a Liverpool shirt

by  on  in All, Liverpool, Our Thoughts, Our Thoughts

After sixteen plus years of gargantuan first team service to Liverpool Football Cup, it was yesterday announced that season 2014-2015 will be Steven Gerrard’s final as a Liverpool player as the Huyton native will, as per reports, sign for a Major League Soccer Franchise in the United States.

There were murmurings of Gerrard potentially leaving the club doing the rounds on social media of late, especially as the 34 year old had yet to sign the extended deal which had been mentioned by both him and Brendan Rodgers, but the news came as a shock to the Liverpool faithful.

Since the announcement, there has been an endless supply of Gerrard endorsements online from team-mates, ex-team-mates and fans alike with the word legend a mutual feature in all of them.

Legend is an apt description of Gerrard as his contribution to Liverpool Football Club, often in times of abject mediocrity for the club, has been nothing short of legendary.

Here, I look at some of his greatest moments in a Liverpool shirt:

1:

First Goal in Istanbul:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCzkGKxx9Cc

It’s fitting that the greatest comeback in the European Cup’s history in the greatest night in Liverpool’s recent history was started by the greatest player in Liverpool’s recent history. After the initial cross was blocked, Gerrard rose to glance John Arne Riise’s centre past A.C. Milan keeper Dida and score what proved to be the catalyst for a wholly unlikely Liverpool comeback. Gerrard’s celebration, gesticulating at his team-mates to raise their games, was typical of the leader who has lead by example since he ascended to the Liverpool captaincy.

2:

Goal Against Sheffield Wednesday, 1999:

https://vine.co/v/Ov9BuZEHKIL

Gerrard’s first goal for the club, against Sheffield Wednesday at Anfield in December 1999, was indicative of what was to come in his glittering Liverpool career. Picking up the ball deep, Gerrard surged through the heart of Wednesday defence, selling two dummies, before driving the ball low into the far corner for a brilliant virtuoso goal. Years later, such moments of individual brilliance would become his forte.

3:

Free Kick Goal Versus Newcastle, 2007-2008 Season:

https://vine.co/v/OdehWUYlB6e

Set piece prominence, especially in the latter part of his career, has been a hallmark of Gerrard’s career and one of his finest came away to Newcastle in the 2007-2008 season. Gerrard, as part of the English team that had been knocked out of Euro 2008 qualification contention by Croatia only days earlier, had been jeered mercilessly by the raucous St James Park fans but the home crowd soon fell silent as the Liverpool captain soon fired a free kick from all of thirty five yards into the top corner and past the hapless Shay Given.

4:

Goal Away To Marseille, 2008-2009 Champions League Season:

On the biggest stages, Gerrard-like any great player should- came to life and produced some of his best football. For years, the Champions League provided Gerrard with the platform to show the world his considerable talents and one of his finest moments in the competition synonymous with his career was away to Marseille in the 2008-2009 campaign. Receiving the ball from Dirk Kuyt, Gerrard, much to the surprise of everyone, curled an effort past Steve Mandanda from twenty five yards and the acutest of angles.

5:

Hattrick At Home To Napoli In The Europa League:

Mention Roy Hodgson to any Liverpool fan and unanimously you’ll see a grimace, but even that disastrous reign was for one game illuminated by Gerrard. Trailing 1-0 in the Europa League to Napoli side containing the likes of Hamsik, Cavani and Lavezzi, Gerrard’s introduction off the bench swung the game in Liverpool’s favour. Like on so many other occasions, Gerrard dragged a limp Liverpool from the jaws of defeat to an unlikely victory single handed; scoring a magnificent 14 minute hattrick.

6:

Goal & Performance At Home To Real Madrid in 2009:

Naturally, Gerrard was central to one of the best Liverpool performances in recent years as he and his team tore European Giants Real Madrid apart at Anfield; winning 4-0 and 5-0 on aggregate. Dovetailing wonderfully with Fernando Torres, Gerrard was imperious scoring twice and being a proverbial thorn in Madrid’s side. Afterwards, Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane championed Gerrard as one of the world’s greatest players.

7:

Goal Versus Middlesborough, 2004-2005 season.

https://vine.co/v/Ohur07Exb6L

Collecting John Arne Riise’s cross field pass, Gerrard, with god like technique, smashes a thirty yard volley into the top left corner of the Middlesborough goal. Typically, the goal came at a vital juncture as Liverpool were trailing 1-0 before Gerrard’s intervention.

8:

The Gerrard Final:

To many Liverpool fans, their abiding Gerrard memory will be his virtuoso performance against West Ham in the 2006 F.A. Cup Final, a showing of class and never say die attitude that reverberated around the footballing world. Gerrard was everywhere for Liverpool, scoring twice and executing a wonderfully crafted assist for Djibril Cisse. Not that his first goal wasn’t impressive, a volley into the top corner from a knock down, but his second goal will go down in footballing folklore. With the game in its final moments and Liverpool staring at a derisory 3-2 defeat to West Ham, Gerrard scored what must be the greatest goal in F.A. Cup Final history. All of forty yards out, Gerrard smashed a volley low and powerfully past Shaka Hislop and into the bottom corner. The mark of a great player is how they perform on the biggest stages, and that’s exactly where Steven Gerrard, the ultimate big game player, came alive.

John O'Sullivan

Sporadic beard cultivator. Appreciator of quinoa. Hip Hop aficionado.

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