Steven Gerrard - Liverpool

Steven Gerrard is regarded as one of football’s greatest-ever midfield players and is renowned for his leadership, strength, passing, vision and goalscoring ability.

He played for Liverpool from 1998 to 2015, winning nine major team honours, including the 2004-05 UEFA Champions League, as well as various individual accolades.

Gerrard was born in Whiston, Merseyside, on May 30, 1980, and first joined the club’s youth ranks aged 9 after impressing Liverpool scouts for his local club, Whiston Juniors.

Now aged 43, Gerrard is currently the manager of Saudi Pro League side Al-Ettifaq.

A glorious LFC career - 17 years of brilliance

Gerrard signed his first professional Liverpool contract aged 17 and made his first-team debut on November 29, 1998.

He scored his first Liverpool goal on December 5, 1999, against Sheffield Wednesday in a match the Reds won 4-1.

In 2001, he was part of the Liverpool side which won a treble - the League Cup, the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup. Gerrard scored in the UEFA Cup final against Alaves.

At the end of the 2000-01 season he was named as the PFA Young Player of the Year.

Gerrard scored in the 2002-03 League Cup final, a 2-0 win against Manchester United, and replaced Sami Hyypia as permanent Liverpool captain on 15 October, 2003, after being chosen by manager Gerard Houllier.

He scored his most important Liverpool goal to date against Olympiakos on December, 8, 2004. Liverpool needed to win their final Champions League group stage game by a margin of two goals but found themselves down 1-0 in the first half at Anfield.

By the 80th minute, Liverpool had recovered to take a 2-1 lead and Gerrard scored a wonderful, 86th-minute long-range strike to secure their qualification.

He would however score an own goal in the 2004-05 League Cup final, which they lost to Chelsea by a score of 3-2 after extra time.

Gerrard had his finest night as Liverpool captain on May 25, 2005, when Liverpool beat AC Milan to win the Champions League in Istanbul, their first European Cup / Champions League title in 21 years.

He was named as the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year in 2005 but after a contract dispute with Liverpool came close to joining Chelsea in the off-season.

However, he had a last-minute change of heart and instead remained on Merseyside. Throughout his time at Liverpool, Gerrard was targeted by some of the world’s biggest clubs with Gary Neville recently disclosing that he tried to get Gerrard to sign for Manchester United while on England duty. Indeed, Gerrard had a trial with Manchester United as a 14-year-old.

Gerrard played a key role in helping the Reds to win the 2005-06 FA Cup final on May 13, 2006. First he provided an assist to allow Djibril Cisse to halve the deficit after West Ham United took a two-goal lead. He then scored an equaliser before the Hammers went ahead again. Gerrard would score one of his most famous goals in injury time at Wembley, scoring from outside the area to force extra time. Liverpool won the cup after a penalty shootout in which Gerrard scored and, afterwards, he was named man of the match.

At the end of that season, Gerrard was named PFA Players’ Player of the Year.

Liverpool would be back to face AC Milan in the Champions League final in 2007 but this time the Italians won the day and Gerrard could not conjure another Istanbul-like miracle.

Liverpool finished second in the 2008-09 Premier League season yet again and Gerrard scored a total of 24 goals. He was also named as the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year.

Liverpool won the League Cup again in 2011-12, beating Cardiff City in a penalty shootout at Wembley but were unable to claim FA Cup glory against Chelsea, where they lost 2-1 in the final.

During the 2013-14 it appeared Gerrard would finally break his Premier League hoodoo and lead the Reds to the title. However, Liverpool would ultimately finish runners-up to Manchester City having relinquished their lead during the final stages of the run-in. On April 27, 2014, Gerrard slipped in first-half injury time while receiving a pass to allow Chelsea’s Demba Ba to race through on goal and score. Liverpool were unable to recover and lost 2-0.

Gerrard played one more season for Liverpool, leaving the club at the conclusion of the 2014-15 season. His final game for the club was a 6-1 defeat away at Stoke City.

He departed as one of the club’s greatest servants, appearing in 709 matches, before winding down his career with two seasons at the Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer. He retired from playing in 2016.

That Night In Istanbul: Champions League glory

Gerrard’s greatest night as a Liverpool player was May 16, 2005. Liverpool played AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League final. Milan raced into a three-goal lead by half-time. Inspired by Gerrard, however, Liverpool would complete the most remarkable comebacks in the competition’s history.

He set Liverpool back on the right track by scoring a header just after half time. Liverpool would add another two goals in a frantic six-minute spell, the third of which was a Xabi Alonso goal, a rebound following Alonso’s own missed spot kick. Gerrard had earned the penalty having been tugged inside the box by Gennaro Gattuso. Liverpool stayed level through to the end of extra time, and won on penalty kicks. Gerrard was slated to be the Reds’ fifth penalty taker on the night but was not required. For his efforts, Gerrard was named man of the match, UEFA’s Club Footballer of the Year, finished third in the Ballon d’Or voting and was included in the UEFA Team of the Year.

Gerrard by the numbers: His Liverpool FC stats

Gerrard won nine major trophies at Anfield including the Champions League, two FA Cups and three League Cups.

Gerrard was named eight times in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year throughout his time at Liverpool as well as three times in the FIFA FIFPro World XI in 2007, 2008 and 2009. He was named in the UEFA Team of the Year in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Gerrard also finished in third place in the running for the 2005 Ballon d’Or behind Ronaldinho and England team-mate Frank Lampard.

He played 709 times for the Reds, captaining the club for 12 years - the longest-serving captain in the club’s history - and scored 186 goals for the Anfield outfit, putting him fifth on the club’s list of all-time top goalscorers. He scored five hat-tricks for Liverpool, including a 15-minute hat-trick against Napoli in the Europa League on November 4, 2010 having come off the bench, and one on March 13, 2012 against Everton in the Premier League at Anfield.

Only Ian Callaghan (857) and Jamie Carragher (737) have played more matches for Liverpool than Gerrard.

Life after Liverpool - from Scotland to Saudi

Gerrard became a Liverpool academy coach in 2017, taking charge of the club’s Under-18s. In 2018, he was named as Rangers manager. During the 2020-21 Scottish Premiership season, Gerrard’s Rangers completed an unbeaten campaign and won their first Scottish title in 10 years. He would go on to become manager of Aston Villa in the Premier League in November 2021 but was dismissed from his post after only 11 months. He was appointed as manager of Al-Ettifaq in the Saudi Pro League in July 2023, bringing another Liverpool captain in Jordan Henderson to the league, signing a lucrative contract extension in January 2024 to keep him at the club until 2027.

Family

Gerrard has been married to wife Alex since June 2007 and together they have four children.