Liverpool Career

Steven Gerrard made his debut for Liverpool on 30th November 1998, coming on as a second half substitute in a match against Blackburn. He made his full debut against Celta Vigo in a UEFA cup tie. Gerrard scored his first goal for the reds in 1999 in a match against Sheffield Wednesday, and many more were to follow. In 2000 a succession of niggling injuries put him in the sidelines, however after overcoming them he was back in full force for Liverpool. Steven Gerrard was honoured with the PFA Player of the Year award for his outstanding performances in the 2000-2001 season. In this very season, he participated in all three of Liverpool’s cup finals, in their famous ‘treble season.’ He scored the second goal for Liverpool in the UEFA Cup final against Alaves. Liverpool won the UEFA cup final in dramatic fashion with a 5-4 scoreline.

Gerrard entered the 2001-2002 season in impressive form. He scored for his national team in a 5-1 thrashing of Germany. Despite several injuries, Gerrard played an integral part in Liverpool’s 2001/02 campaign, appearing in 45 occasions. Unfortunately however, an injury prevented him in participating in the 2002 world cup finals. The 2002- 2003 season saw the further emergence of Steven Gerrard as a team leader. In this season, he played a heavy part in Liverpool’s league cup triumph against Manchester United and played a total of 54 games. His biggest disappointment came in a UEFA cup match against Celtic, which Liverpool lost 2-0 at Anfield. The reds failed to reach the Champions league once again in the 2003/04 season, however Gerrard was still in splendid form. He helped Liverpool reach 4th place in the Premiership and help them to a good UEFA Cup run, ending against Marseille in the quarter finals. He also participated for England in the 2004 European Championships that summer.

2004/2005 season

His best season by far was the very succesful 2004/05 season. He had a disappointing to this season however - a foot injury sustained against bitter enemies Manchester United on 20th September 2004 kept him out of first team football until the end of November 2004. In their final qualifying match for the second phase, Liverpool were struggling against the Greek side, Olympiakos, needing to win by a two goal margin in order to progress to the last sixteen. They were trailing 1-0 at half time, however the revival started as Liverpool scored two goals early on in the second half, and with moments remaining Gerrard scored a vital 25 yard strike. This impressive last ditch goal effort secured a passage to the second round for the reds. Liverpool were far from impressive in the league and F.A Cup, their league form was poor and they lost to Burnley in the third round of the F.A Cup. However, towards the end of the season Liverpool began to see light at the end of the tunnel. The reds beat Bayern Leverkusen in the quarter finals of the champions league - they now had a realistic chance of winning the prestigious competition. Liverpool went into their Champions league semi-final clash against Chelsea on the back of an embarrassing 1-0 defeat at the hands of relegated side Crystal palace, however a battling 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge left the return leg at Anfield wide open. They narrowly beat Chelsea 1-0 in the return leg and Champions league glory was in striking distance. A dismal 3-1 defeat against Arsenal, left them without a champions league birth for the 2005/06 season, as local rivals comfortably pipped them to the fourth spot in the premiership. In the Champions league final against AC Milan the reds were 3-0 at half-time and certainly had an arduous task on their hands. In the second half, Steven Gerrard scored a great goal - he headed a goal which started a big Liverpool revival. Liverpool and Gerrard overcame the deficit to equalize the score line to 3-3. Liverpool went on to win the tie on penalties, and his intentions of staying at Anfield were clear ‘How can I leave after a night like this.’ Gerrard was named UEFA’s most valuable player of the Champions league.

In July 2005, contract negotiations fell apart between Gerrard and Liverpool. Many believed that Steven Gerrard was going to leave Liverpool for Chelsea. Throughout the saga Liverpool's intentions remained unchanged - they wanted Gerrard to remain at the club. On July 8th, Gerrard signed a new four year deal with Liverpool which was enough to delight the Anfield faithful.

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2005/2006 season

Gerrard was very much at his best during the 2005-06 season. He started off the season by scoring five goals in a home and away champions league qualification match against Total Network Solutions of Wales. Liverpool gained momentum during the season and by the end of the 2005-06 campaign Steven gerrard was awarded with his best accolade to date, as he was voted PFA player of the year by his fellow professionals. He was the first Liverpool player in 18 years to win the award, the last one being John Barnes in 1988. Gerrard finished off the season in a magnificent manner, captaining Liverpool to victory in the FA Cup Final. He scored two goals in the final against West ham, including a glorious equalizer in injury time to ensure the match would go to extra time. The goal came from 35 yards out and is considered one of the greatest goals in FA Cup history.