Welcome to the big time: Liverpool 2 Blackburn Rovers 0, 29 November 1998
An 18-year-old Gerrard, wearing the No28 shirt, makes his first Liverpool appearance as an 89th-minute substitute for Vegard Heggem. His run‑out comes at right-back in a 2-0 win secured by first-half goals from Paul Ince and Michael Owen. Gérard Houllier had taken sole charge that month after an unsuccessful spell as joint manager with Roy Evans and swiftly promoted Gerrard. Heggem later told the Liverpool Echo of Gerrard: “I just remember how shy and skinny he was back then … There was a buzz when he came on as it was a great boost for the fans to see another local boy coming through.”
Beating the enemy (part one): Liverpool 2 Manchester United 0, 31 March 2001
Gerrard’s spectacular goal, lashed past Fabien Barthez from 30 yards after a burst from near the edge of the centre circle, sets Liverpool en route to a first home win against Manchester United since December 1995. The 2-0 victory over a side who would go on to win the title by 10 points is crucial to the club’s successful push to qualify for the Champions League. The Guardian’s Daniel Taylor reflected, after Roy Keane and co were outmanoeuvred: “Not for the first time, and probably not the last, Gerrard was the driving influence of this Liverpool triumph, an indomitable presence on the right of midfield.”
Setting sail for Istanbul: Liverpool 3 Olympiakos 1, 8 December 2004
Liverpool are heading out of the Champions League until, in the 86th minute in front of the Kop, Gerrard unleashes a 20-yard shot that secures the two-goal victory required to reach the knockout phase. A goal down at half-time, the victory secures a place in the last 16; they go on to win the final against Milan in Istanbul with a far more improbable comeback. Gerrard’s future was in doubt at the time of the Olympiakos match and the Guardian’s Kevin McCarra wrote of his performance: “It was as if he had resolved personally to deliver the level of achievement at Liverpool that will make him content to stay.”
Reducing Real to rubble: Liverpool 4 Real Madrid 0, 10 March 2009
Gerrard is the driving force behind the 4-0 destruction of a Madrid team that included Raúl, Arjen Robben and Fabio Cannavaro. His two goals come on his 100th appearance in continental competition for the club – the first a penalty, the second a volley at the Kop end – with Fernando Torres and Andrea Dossena the other scorers as Rafael Benítez’s team march into the quarter-finals 5-0 on aggregate. Such is Liverpool’s dominance that Gerrard is taken off with just over quarter of an hour remaining to rest for the Premier League game at Manchester United four days later. He scores in that, too, in a 4-1 victory.
Beating the enemy (part two): Liverpool 3 Everton 0, 13 March 2012
Gerrard scores the first hat-trick in a Merseyside derby since 1982 in Liverpool’s 3-0 win under the lights. Luis Suárez, whose assist for the final goal in stoppage time was his second of the night, also impresses as the team end a run of three straight league defeats. “To beat Everton is always special, so to get three goals is a little bit extra,” Gerrard said after marking his 400th league appearance in style. Kenny Dalglish, the then manager, said: “For a guy who left school at 15, my vocabulary is not that great. There is no way I could extol the virtues of Steven Gerrard and do him justice.”
