The Liverpool-born midfielder was
the face of Anfield during his
playing days and he has the stats
and silverware to cement himself
as one of the all-time greats. His
achievements in the game earned him respect from managers,
players and fans alike for his
tireless effort, eye for a lethal
cross-field pass, his deadly touch
and his ability to hit missile-guided
shots towards goal from seemingly half way across the pitch. Gerrard made his first-team debut
for Liverpool in 1998 although, at
the time, the youngster
experienced a constant shuffle of
position – a curse of his undoubted
talent to play in almost any position – and he was unable to cement a
place in his preferred centre-
midfield position. In the 2000-01
season, Gerrard helped lead
Liverpool to a treble when they
took home the FA Cup, League Cup and the UEFA Cup. That season saw Gerrard finally
show his goal scoring potential as
the midfielder netted 10 goals in 50
matches whilst being named the
PFA Young Player of the Year. He
was given the Anfield captaincy in 2003 and in 2005 helped lead
Liverpool to their first Champions
League trophy in twenty years. In the 2005 Champions League
final, Gerrard helped orchestrate
one of the greatest comebacks in
football history – a night that has
been rightfully dubbed the ‘Miracle
of Istanbul’. The club was in a 3-0 pit against A.C. Milan at half time
and seemingly looked all-but-out of
the game. Following a rousing
team talk (by none-other than
Gerrard himself), what happened
in the second half has gone down in footballing legend. The Skipper, almost single-
handedly pulling his teammates
back from the brink, drilled a
header into the back of the net to
help spark the comeback.
Liverpool would score two more goals to level the match and an
incredible, Jerzy Dudek-inspired
penalty shoot-out helped the club
overcome almost impossible odds
to triumph. It was Liverpool’s first
Champions League trophy in 20 years and for his part in the
shocking comeback, Gerrard was
named Man of the Match.
Gerrard’s loyalty and effort for
Liverpool endeared him not just to
the Kop, but to neutral football fans alike. Gerrard continued his development
and established himself as a
superstar in the next few years. In
2009, the Liverpool captain was
named the Football Writers’
Association Footballer of the Year. Over his tenure with the club the
midfielder won two FA Cups, three
English League Cups and the
Champions League among his
many accolades. One of the qualities that endeared
Gerrard to the Kop faithful was that
he had opportunities to join clubs
throughout, clubs where winning
would have been easier, but
Gerrard showed his loyalty to Liverpool every time. It was more
important to win one at Anfield than
a dozen somewhere else for
Gerrard. As a result of his long
tenure with Liverpool, Gerrard went
on to become the longest serving captain in the club’s history and
became one of three players to
achieve more than 500
appearances with the same
football club. Gerrard’s leadership qualities were
obvious so he served on several
occasions over his international
career as the captain of the
England national team squad.
Though England weren’t able to claim any silverware during his
playing career, he was a driving
force as the Three Lions reached
the quarterfinals of the 2012 Euro’s
– he was named in UEFA’s Team
of the Tournament as a result. The midfielder finished his England
career with 114 caps, making him
the fourth most capped player in
country’s history. The former Liverpool captain will
be representing England once
again this June at the ICONS of
Football 2017 Tournament as a
group of England Icons will face
off against the Rest of the World’s great former footballers. Gerrard
will try help England get the victory
at the tournament to add a bit more
silverware to his impressive
collection.
