The tenth anniversary of Steven Gerrard’s debut in Liverpool’s first team has not gone unnoticed. A player of his calibre would have moved onto pastures new instead of battling to end an 18-year wait for the league championship. Not Steven Gerrard.
Gerrard’s decade in the Anfield spotlight has been a mixed one and it is fair to say that he has had his fair share of landmark moments.
Here are ten memories that have defined Steven Gerrard’s first ten years at Liverpool Football Club:
The First of Many - 5th December 1999
Over a year after making his first team debut Gerrard finally broke his senior duck, scoring Liverpool’s third in the 4-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday.
Despite being rotated between central midfield and the left back position, Gerrard proved to then-manager Gerard Houllier that he had the potential to make the grade at Anfield with a well driven effort into the corner of Kevin Pressman’s goal after a mazy run.
Ric George of the Liverpool Echo gave a poetic-like insight into a player who would, four years later, be crowned captain of the side:
‘Gerrard didn't just step forward, he side-stepped, danced and dribbled past three defenders before finishing decisively. Gerrard is a wonderful talent, a young man with the steel of Stiles and the style of Souness. And he couldn't have chosen a better way to fire his first senior goal.'
One Wild Night – 16th May 2001
In a season that saw him crowned PFA Young Player of the Year ahead of Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Alan Smith and team mate Emile Heskey, Gerrard helped the Reds complete an impressive cup treble with a goal in the UEFA Cup final against Alaves.
In a dramatic game which became end-to-end in the latter stages, Gerrard struck early on with a well driven effort that sent the travelling Kopites in the Westfalenstadion into raptures and he admits that the goal gave him a huge confidence boost.
He said: “Scoring in the final against Alaves in Dortmund gave me the confidence that I could perform in the biggest matches. I was only young but I knew after that game that I could go on and score many more goals for Liverpool.
“The 2001 UEFA Cup final win over Alaves is a game none of us will ever forget."
Derby Delight – 15th September 2001
Gerrard has scored many goals against Everton in a red shirt but none as memorable as this. His equaliser in the 3-1 win at Goodison Park is remembered not only for his goal but also the celebration that followed.
Liverpool were one down after Kevin Campbell had breached the Reds’ defence early on until Gerrard capitalised on a poor headed clearance in the 11th minute. He ran to the far right hand side of the area and fired a blistering shot past namesake Paul Gerrard.
“I always love playing against Everton, scoring against them and beating them,” he said.
“I had many dreams as a young kid, one of which was to grow up and score against Everton. I just love the games and I think it's because there's such a strong fear of losing because of the stick we'll get.”
In this annual battle for civic pride, Gerrard’s Scouse pride surfaced as he ran down the touchline cupping his ear and sticking his tongue out at the home supporters in a gesture that has marked his name into derby folklore alongside his two-footed tackle on Blues’ defender Gary Naysmith a year later at Anfield.
Millennium Magic – 2nd March 2003
Liverpool versus Manchester United is a game that does not need much of a billing and a repeat of the 1983 League Cup final was no exception. In the 38th minute Michael Owen was pressured by Gary Neville in the Millennium Stadium. He lined the ball to John Arne Riise who cut inside to Gerrard. The future Liverpool skipper took one touch and pulled the trigger. With a little help of a deflection from the advancing David Beckham, the ball dipped magnificently into Fabien Barthez’s top left hand corner.
Take a Bow, Skipper – 15th October 2003
Ahead of Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Olympic Ljubljana in the UEFA Cup, Houllier stripped Sami Hyypia of the captaincy in favour of a local lad made good.
"The manager has always said I would captain the club one day but it was a shock yesterday when Gerard Houllier told me I was to be captain from now on," he said at the time.
"I was captain of my school side and I used to go along to Anfield to watch the team and I always looked up to people like John Barnes who captained the team during the 90s.
"I want to blossom into a world class player - something I'm not yet - and hopefully captaining Liverpool will help me achieve that ambition."
Gerrard took to the role instantly and some would argue that he has never waned on his responsibilities since that day five years ago.
Oh You Beauty! – 8th December 2004
Liverpool appeared to be heading out of the Champions League on a nervy Tuesday night at Anfield. The only way they would qualify for the group stages was by winning with two clear goals over Greek champions elect Olympiakos.
The visitors had taken the lead with a Rivaldo free kick in the first half and despite goals from Neil Mellor and Florent Sinama-Pongolle, the Reds were heading straight for a place in the UEFA Cup. That was until Mellor nodded a Jamie Carragher cross back to the edge of the area in the 86th minute. Gerrard met it perfectly to rifle the ball home into the bottom left hand corner of the Kop goal. It guaranteed Liverpool’s qualification for the knockout stages and is also best remembered for the overreaction of ex-Everton player Andy Gray whose immortal words of ‘Oh you beauty! What a hit son, what a hit!’ still ring in the ears of Kopites on what was a special European night at Anfield.
The Miracle – 25th May 2005
One night in May three years ago has a very special place in all Liverpool fans’ hearts. Their team defied logic by overturning European heavyweights AC Milan to claim their fifth European Cup despite trailing 3-0 at half time.
A close range header from Gerrard set the ball rolling for what would later be known as ‘six minutes of madness’. The captain’s goal was not only the catalyst for the fight back but his motivational gestures to his team mates and the supporters as he ran back to his own half for the restart embodied his never-say-die attitude which culminated later that night in him fulfilling a lifelong ambition and holding the European Cup aloft in the Ataturk Stadium.
Looking back on that night in Istanbul, Gerrard said: “I think that goal gave us the belief to go on and save the game. At half-time it looked like we could lose 5-0 or 6-0 because we had been totally dominated, but my goal gave the players and the fans belief that we could still come back. That's why it was so important and the rest, as they say, is history.”
He added: “There's no other game I could select than the 2005 Champions League final. To be three goals down and come back to lift the trophy was amazing. I've seen the highlights many times since on the television and it's always brilliant to watch.”
Dancing with the Devil – 5th-6th July 2005
Despite lifting the European Cup two months previous, Gerrard was unhappy with the current state of affairs at Anfield. He had been promised a new contract in the close season but no one from the club had been forthcoming with even a proposed date for negotiations to begin.
Doubts started to creep into the Liverpool captain’s mind having rejected Chelsea’s overtures the previous summer in favour of staying with his boyhood club. On July 5th reports reached news agencies that Gerrard had handed in a transfer request, something club chief executive Rick Parry later confirmed in front of a national TV audience.
At the time Gerrard was frustrated and has admitted that it was the lowest point of his Anfield career. “In my heart, this is my club and I want to bring success here for the supporters,” he wrote in Captain’s Book.
“For their sake as well as my own, I never want to go through the events of July 2005 ever again.
“That was when I told Liverpool I wanted to leave. But I just didn’t want to let go of what I’ve worked so hard for and as everyone knows by now, I could never leave this club.
“I think that those few days in early July, 2005 where the most difficult days of my life. I know I hurt the fans at the time and they were entitled to their opinion.
“I had to explain why I was turning Chelsea down at a press conference in June 2004 and I had to put them through it all again a year or so later.”
Some Liverpool supporters washed their hands of Gerrard upon hearing the news and some burned a shirt with his name on outside the Kop for the benefit of Sky Sports News.
The following morning, after reported interest from Real Madrid and Chelsea, Parry went to work telling reporters assembled outside Anfield, “Stevie’s staying”, something the skipper backed up with a public statement later that day and an in-depth interview explaining the situation to the club’s relieved supporters.
The Gerrard Final – 13th May 2006
Almost a year on from the inspired fight back in Istanbul, Gerrard once again came to Liverpool’s rescue – this time in the FA Cup final against West Ham United.
"To be honest I thought we'd win the game comfortably but they made life really difficult for us and in the end we had to settle for penalties,” Gerrard confessed.
After seeing his team fall two-behind in the first half, Gerrard not only scored two of the Reds’ goals but he also was a more than able assistant for Djibril Cisse to fire home in the first half to reduce the deficit.
In the second half Gerrard played like a man possessed, scoring as Liverpool trailed the game 3-1. “It came at a good time for us and got us back on level terms after going a couple of goals behind. It meant our dream of winning the competition was still alive,” he said.
In the 90th minute, shortly after the fourth official had indicated how many minutes stoppage time would be played, Gerrard rifled home a 30-yard volley from outside the area to take the game into extra time and penalties.
“It was really horrible in the final minutes of the game thinking that I would soon be watching the West Ham players dancing around Cardiff with winners’ medals. That's why my goal was so important - it gave us extra time and the chance to go on and win it for ourselves.”
Despite leading Liverpool to their seventh FA Cup triumph the captain still plays down his heroics that day in Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, insisting it was a team effort.
“I know I scored the two goals and that it has been labelled the 'Gerrard final', but that's unfair on the rest of the team. I scored the goals and may have got the man of the match award on the day, but we did it together.”
C’est Magnifique! – 16th September 2008
Liverpool travelled to Marseille in the Champions League group stages for the second time in two seasons and Gerrard gave yet another match-winning performance.
After falling behind to Lorik Cana’s opener, Gerrard took the initiative to score a superb long-range effort to draw level which he followed up a minute later by scoring his 99th club goal from the penalty spot to hand Liverpool all three points.
Liverpool travelled to Marseille in the Champions League group stages for the second time in two seasons and Gerrard gave yet another match-winning performance.
After falling behind to Lorik Cana’s opener, Gerrard took the initiative to score a superb long-range effort to draw level which he followed up a minute later by scoring his 99th club goal from the penalty spot to hand Liverpool all three points.
