Steven Gerrard Profile

1998–99

Gerrard made his debut for the Liverpool first team on 29 November 1998 as a second-half substitute for Vegard Heggem against Blackburn. His first start came in the UEFA Cup against Celta Vigo. Due to an injury to Jamie Redknapp, Gerrard went on to play 13 games for Liverpool that season.

1999–00

The 1999–00 season saw manager Gérard Houllier start with Gerrard partnering Jamie Redknapp in central midfield. After being in the starting line-up for the first six games, Gerrard was relegated to the substitutes' bench for the local derby against Everton. Gerrard replaced Robbie Fowler after 66 minutes but went on to receive the first red card of his career for a foul on Everton's Kevin Campbellin the 90th minute. Later that season, Gerrard scored his first senior goal in a 4–1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday.

His back was causing him regular problems. At the time, many journalists surmised that fans would never see Steven Gerrard complete anything close to a full season. However, manager Gerard Houllier took the practical approach and sought specialist help. After visits to the renowned sports consultant Dr Müller-Wohlfarth, it was diagnosed that Gerrard's pains were a result of accelerated growth in a short period of time. After treatment he and Liverpool F.C. were assured that these problems would not recur. Gerrard then suffered from groin problems. He was said to need four operations for this correction. He then saw Liverpool F.C. doctors and kept his faith with Liverpool. He was sent to a Frenchman for his treatment by Gérard Houllier. He worked hard to recover and soon his groin injuries were no longer a problem. It had also been claimed that because of a 3 inch growth in his height during one year that the growth in his body caused many of the problems. In his early career it was said by some that it was impossible for him to play two games a week.

2000–01

2000–01 brought Gerrard his first trophy successes: he put his injury problems behind him and made 50 first team appearances, scoring 10 goals, as Liverpool won the League Cup and FA Cup. In the UEFA Cup final against Alavés, Gerrard scored his first major final goal as Liverpool won 5–4. At the end of the season Gerrard was named PFA Young Player of the Year.

2001–02

Following the 2001 treble season, Gerrard became increasingly influential in the Liverpool side as he became more experienced and his injury problems waned. He played an important part in Liverpool's 2001–02 season which resulted in the club finishing second in the Premier League with their best points tally in over a decade. During the course of this season, Houllier suffered serious health problems which resulted in him having to undergo major heart surgery. At this point Liverpool looked like becoming a force in English Football once again, but after Houllier's illness the team began to go backwards. The team's performance became increasingly erratic and reliant on Gerrard and Michael Owen to win matches with flashes of inspiration.

2002–03

Gerrard suffered a period of unusual poor form during this time culminating in his substitution during a Champions League match with Basle at half time with Liverpool 3–0 down. After the game Gerrard was the subject of public criticism by Houllier, who suggested that he was not fully focussed on his football. Gerrard claimed in his autobiography that the end of his parents marriage had deflected his attention from the team. Gerrard quickly recovered from this poor spell and once again began to assert sizeable influence on the team. The season culminated in a series of outstanding performances from Gerrard, which included him scoring the first goal in Liverpool's 2–0 Worthington Cup final victory over fierce rivals Manchester United.

2003–04

By the start of the 2003 season, Gerrard had established himself as Liverpool's on-field leader and he was officially recognised as club captain, replacing Sami Hyypia. Houllier handed the responsibility to Gerrard in October 2003, perhaps hoping that he could inspire his teammates to improve their performance, but also to compel him to take responsibility for his own indifferent disciplinary record – a tactic which apparently worked as throughout the season he was booked only twice. His then Liverpool team mate, Michael Owen, in his autobiography expressed relief at Gerrard being named captain as it took the pressure off him. Gerrard also penned a four year contract worth £60,000 a week.

However while Gerrard excelled as Liverpool's captain, the team continued to stall and the 2003–04 season ended with no trophies and a lack of optimism about Liverpool's future prospects for success under Houllier. For the first time it was suggested that Gerrard may have to move away from Anfield to fulfill his potential. The previous season had seen Liverpool fall well short of competing for top prizes and they only just scraped into a Champions League place on the last day of the league season. The Liverpool board decided that change was essential and Gerard Houllier departed as manager. This led to frenzied media speculation that Gerrard would also leave Anfield, but the appointment of Rafael Benitez convinced him to stay to see what the new manager could deliver.

2004–05

Having committed to Liverpool, it was important for both the club and the player to have a good season. However, in the early part of the season Liverpool struggled under the new management. Liverpool were not helped by the sale of Michael Owen to Real Madrid and a serious injury to striker Djibril Cisse. Injuries severely affected the rest of the team, including Gerrard himself. A foot injury sustained against rivals Manchester United on 20 September 2004 ruled Gerrard out of first team football until late November 2004. By that stage the club were already out of realistic contention in the Premier League and they were also under pressure to stay in the Champions League.

Liverpool went into the final group game requiring a 2 goal win to progress into the last 16 of the competition. Dramatically, Gerrard scored a crucial twenty-five-yard strike in the last five minutes against the Greek team Olympiakos to secure the team's progress. The result was particularly impressive as Liverpool were 1–0 down at half-time to a Rivaldo free kick and required three second half goals to go through. Liverpool had been struggling for goals after Owen's sale and Cisse's injury. However, they launched a dramtic comeback scoring 2 goals before Gerrard secured their place in the knockout stage with the crucial third goal with a late strike from outside the box. He has since claimed that this was his most important, if not his best, goal for Liverpool to date.

This result dramatically transformed Liverpool's European season and they were victorious in two legged ties against Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus and Chelsea in the knock out stages, with Gerrard a key performer throughout and they went on to reach the Champions League final. However, in the meantime, the club continued to struggle domestically finishing only 5th in the league - more than thirty points behind the champions Chelsea. Liverpool did reach the Carling Cup final, but were beaten 3–2 by Chelsea after extra time. Gerrard, unfortunately headed an own goal with Liverpool winning with ten minutes left of normal time. This proved to be one of the lowest points of his Anfield career and once again, media speculation arose that he would be moving on from Liverpool at the end of the season.

The Istanbul Final

Liverpool played AC Milan in the 2005 Champions' League final in Istanbul. The game started badly. At half-time Liverpool were 3–0 down. It appeared that AC Milan had the trophy won already. Rafa Benitez made a number of tactical changes at half time, the most crucial being the substitution of Dietmar Hamann for Steve Finnan which allowed Gerrard to push further forward. The changes were successful and Liverpool launched one of the most famous comebacks in sporting history.

In a frantic six minute spell in the second half Liverpool scored three times, to level the game at 3–3. Gerrard led the charge heading the first goal in from a John Arne Riise cross in the 54th minute. Taking heart from the goal Gerrard was seen widely gesturing to his team-mates and the supporters that they still had a chance to win. Two minutes later Vladimír Šmicer scored the Reds' second goal. Moments later, Gerrard was brought down in the box by Gennaro Gattuso and won a penalty. Xabi Alonso's spot kick was saved byDida, the goalkeeper, but he failed to hold the ball and Alonso scored from the rebound to make it 3–3.

There were no further goals in the game. Liverpool went on to win the match via a penalty shootout. Steven Gerrard became the second youngest captain ever to lift the European Cup (Didier Deschamps is the youngest). Gerrard did not take a penalty, he would have taken Liverpool's fifth spot kick if Jerzy Dudek had not already saved from Andriy Shevchenko to win the match for Liverpool.Gerrard's goal made him one of only two people this century to score in both the UEFA Cup and Champions League finals (Dmitri Alenichev for FC Porto is the other).

Gerrard was named as UEFA's Most Valuable Player for the 2004–05 Champions' League season. He was also in the running forFrench sport newspaper L'Equipe's prestigious Ballon D'Or award. Gerrard came third in the 2005 BBC Sports Personality of the Yearbehind Ellen MacArthur (second) and Andrew Flintoff. He later finished third in the 2005 European footballer of the year award.

2005–06

The 2005–06 season was perhaps Gerrard's most impressive to date. He scored 23 goals in 53 games from midfield. In April, Gerrard received his greatest personal accolade to date, when he was voted PFA Player of the Year by his fellow players, becoming the first Liverpool player to win the award since John Barnes in 1988. His only lowlight being a dreadful back pass which was intercepted by Thierry Henry, which lead to him scoring Arsenal's winning goal in a league game at Highbury.

Gerrard capped the season by captaining Liverpool to victory in the FA Cup. He scored twice in the Final against West Ham, including a dramatic equalizer in stoppage time to send the game into extra-time. The 35-yard strike (past Shaka Hislop) has been called the greatest goal in FA Cup final history, and was named Match of the Day's Goal of the Season. Gerrard also scored in the penalty shoot out.

His goals in the 2006 FA Cup final makes Gerrard the only player to have scored in all four major cup finals that it is possible for an England-based player to take part in. Gerrard's goals were: FA Cup (2006 vs West Ham United), League Cup (2003 vs Manchester United), UEFA Cup (2001 vs Deportivo Alaves), and European Cup (2005 vs AC Milan).

2006–07

Liverpool claimed the first domestic silverware of the 2006–07 season by beating Chelsea 2–1 to win theFA Community Shield. As Gerrard was rested from the starting line-up, Jamie Carragher was made captain for the match and thus lifted the cup; Gerrard replaced Boudewijn Zenden on the hour mark, and so added another medal to his collection.

Liverpool were unsuccessful domestically. They finished 3rd in the Premiership, 21 points adrift of the champions Manchester United and on equal points with 4th placed Arsenal. In the FA Cup, they were defeated by Arsenal at the third-round stage.

In the Carling Cup they were again knocked out by Arsenal at the quarter-final stage. Gerrard scored in the match but could not prevent his side suffering a 6–3 defeat at home.

However, Liverpool fared better in the Champions League. Defending Champions and favourites FC Barcelona were beaten in the last 16, and joint favourites Chelsea in the semi-final. In the semi, Gerrard provided the assist for Daniel Agger to score Liverpool's equalizer and later scored the third penalty for Liverpool in the shoot-out. Liverpool faced AC Milan for the title on 23 May, in a repeat of the 2005 final, but lost 2–1.

2007–08

In Liverpool's first game of the new campaign against Aston Villa at Villa Park, Steven Gerrard secured Liverpool three valuable points after scoring a curling free kick into the top-right corner from 25 yards out at the 87th minute, just two minutes after Gareth Barry had equalized for Villa through a penalty. Gerrard was awarded the Man of the Match award. The win marks Liverpool's first opening day victory in the Premiership since 2002. In the Champions League qualifier versus Toulouse F.C., Steven was substituted in the 65th minute with a suspected injury. While this was later confirmed as a hairline fracture in his toe he would return to play only four days later versus Chelsea. Steven played the entirety of the match as it finished in a 1–1 draw.

On October 28, 2007 Steven Gerrard played his 400th game for Liverpool, scoring in the sixth minute, but Arsenal managed to equalize with a late shot from Francesc Fabregas in the 78th minute. Gerrard was elected fans player of the match. On November 28,2007 Liverpool beat Porto 4–1 in the Champions League, with Gerrard scoring an 83rd minute penalty.

Gerrard has scored in nearly every game since the beginning of November and by scoring in the away Champions League tie against Olympic Marseille he became the first Liverpool player since John Aldridge in 1989 to score in 7 games in a row. As of March 9, 2008, he has scored 19 goals in all competitions, surpassing his total number of 11 goals scored last season.