Steven Gerrard’s 10 highs and lows

The highs and lows of Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard.

Now we know that Steven Gerrard is heading to LA Galaxy once his career at Liverpool finishes at the end of this season. And how fitting it is that a Hollywood-esque footballer is jetting off to Tinseltown to see out his playing days. For Gerrard has been the shining star at Anfield for over a decade now. Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez shared equal billing with the captain for a short period, but no player has ever usurped him.

However, like any good Hollywood plot, there must be highs and lows, tears and cheers, and Gerrard’s career for Liverpool and England has been full of them. Here we select ten pivotal moments.

Low 27 September 1999

Monday night was the last time Everton won a Merseyside derby at Anfield.

But back in 1999, it was a personal nightmare for a teenage Gerrard as the substitute was shown a straight red card for a waist-high challenge on Everton’s matchwinner Francis Jeffers.

As a Liverpool fan, Gerrard wouldn’t have taken kindly to losing to the blue half of the city, and he has been a constant thorn in their side since.

Only Aston Villa have taken more punishment than Everton, with Gerrard scoring ten goals against the local rivals, the highlight being a hat-trick at Anfield in a 3-0 win in March 2012.

High 1 September 2001

By this stage, the 21-year-old was emerging as the brightest prospect in English football after helping Liverpool to the treble of UEFA Cup, Worthington Cup and FA Cup.

Here he was in the engine room as England travelled to Germany for a crucial World Cup qualifier in Munich.

Just before half-time and with the score poised at 1-1, the ball dropped to Gerrard 25 yards from goal and he fizzed a shot past Oliver Kahn and into the Germans’ net.

What a way to grab his first strike for his country, and it turned the match in England’s favour as they ran out 5-1 winners.

That game established Gerrard as the heartbeat in midfield, a position he would hold for nearly 13 years until his international retirement after last summer’s World Cup.

High 8 December 2004

Gerrard introduced a whole new generation of Liverpool fans to the tradition of a special Anfield European night. Trailing 1-0 at half-time to Greek side Olympiakos, the Reds needed three goals to reach the knockout stages.

Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Neil Mellor grabbed the first two, but the night is remembered for Gerrard’s 25-yard bullet in front of The Kop with just four minutes remaining.

The crowd went wild, while Andy Gray couldn’t contain himself in the commentary box. Liverpool needed and Gerrard delivered. How many times has that script been repeated since?

Low 27 February 2005

It’s amazing how often Chelsea have cropped up in the Gerrard story, so let’s call them the villains to continue the film analogy.

They were Liverpool’s opponents on this day in the Carling Cup final and big favourites to lift the trophy.

Gerrard’s side had been leading for 78 minutes and were only ten minutes from glory when ‘our hero’ inadvertently got a touch on a deep free-kick which sent the ball unerringly past his own goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek, off the post and into the net.

The tide had turned and Chelsea would go on to win the match 3-2 in extra time.

High 25 May 2005

Somehow, an average Liverpool side found themselves in the Champions League final having got past Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus and Chelsea to reach Istanbul.

Reality had kicked in by half-time as they were trailing 3-0 to a slick AC Milan team. Gerrard’s plea in the dressing room was not to let down the Liverpool supporters, and as was so often the case, he decided to lead by example.

He headed the first, and six minutes later, he was winning the penalty which lead to Liverpool’s equaliser. In that time, Gerrard’s inspiration had turned around a lost cause.

The captain then ran himself into the ground to make ‘The Miracle of Istanbul’ possible, before Dudek’s saves in the shoot-out made it reality.

High or low? 6 July 2005

Possibly the most pivotal moment in Gerrard’s life as a professional footballer. Weeks after helping Liverpool win the Champions League, the midfielder had stunned everybody by announcing his decision to leave Anfield.

Chelsea looked his likely destination where he would become part of a team that was set to dominate the Premier League and in Europe.

But he had a last-minute change of heart, saying that he couldn’t bring himself to leave his beloved Liverpool. Who knows how many medals he might have won in West London?

But he made himself an Anfield icon forever with that U-turn and the focus for all the hopes and dreams of Liverpool supporters. Only in a quiet reflective moment could Gerrard himself answer whether that was the right or wrong call.

High 13 May 2006

The FA Cup final or the Steven Gerrard final. Liverpool’s No.8 took on an inspired West Ham on his own as he dragged his team back from 2-0 and 3-2 down with two equalisers.

The first was a fabulous, clinical strike into the roof of the net. The second was truly unforgettable. 35 yards out, with time up and nothing on, our hero just smashed it past Shaka Hislop to make it 3-3 and break West Ham’s hearts.

He would later score one of the penalties in the shoot-out just for good measure as the Reds won the Cup. Boy’s own stuff from Liverpool’s Captain Fantastic.

Low 1 July 2006

Gerrard was a key figure in the so-called ‘Golden Generation’ for England.

With David Beckham, Michael Owen, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard all in their prime, the 2006 World Cup in Germany was supposed to be the moment they delivered.

As so often is the case with England, it came down to penalties in their quarter-final against Portugal.

They had battled manfully with ten men for over an hour through extra time to claim a 0-0 draw and had a chance to reach the last four. Gerrard was Liverpool’s penalty taker and a dead aim from 12 yards.

Sadly, not on this occasion as he missed the most important spot kick of his career and England lost the shoot-out 3-1. Gerrard had succumbed to the English phobia of penalties.

He would go on to play in two more World Cups as captain but the best chance had gone and he didn’t even reach the last eight in 2010 or 2014.

High 10 March 2009

The high water mark of Gerrard’s Liverpool career. At 28, he was in his prime years and he demonstrated that with a starring role in a 4-0 demolition (5-0 on aggregate) of Spanish giants Real Madrid in the Champions League.

Ably assisted by Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano, Gerrard scored twice as the Reds ran riot, with only goalkeeper Iker Casillas getting in the way of an even bigger hammering.

Sadly, Alonso’s departure later that summer saw the beginning of the breaking up of that team, with only Gerrard left behind. And he would never play in the knockout stages of Europe’s premier competition again after that season.

Low 27 April 2014

Thanks to a string of excellent performances and stirring speeches, Gerrard had dragged Liverpool to the verge of an unlikely title triumph, and how Hollywood loves the story of the fading hero’s last shot at glory.

All they had to do was avoid defeat against Chelsea and the title was almost theirs. Finally, it looked like the captain would have the one medal missing from his club collection. Instead, disaster struck at the end of the first half. Gerrard uncharacteristically mis-controlled a pass from Mamadou Sakho on the halfway line, before slipping in a desperate attempt to rectify his error.

That made things worse and he could only watch in horror as Demba Ba advanced and scored. Gerrard tried desperately to redeem his mistake but to no avail.

The defeat was pivotal as Liverpool were overtaken in the final strait by eventual champions Manchester City.