Steven Gerrard enjoyed his virtuoso performance on his return to Anfield last week – but not the aches and pains that followed.
Former Liverpool teammate Danny Murphy claimed the Rangers boss should still be playing after his cameo against AC Milan legends, when he scored a late winner in a 3-2 victory for Liverpool’s legends.
After the pain he suffered in the days since, Gerrard has ruled that out completely.
But he did confess that sampling the buzz again makes him wish he was playing in fixtures like today’s Old Firm clash against Celtic.
He said: “I’m still feeling it a week down the line!
“I love playing in front of a full Anfield. To win and score was a nice feeling but I was in bits for three days.
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“Danny obviously wasn’t seeing the pain I was in when he said what he did.
“It was tough. Thank God it was 80 minutes and not 90. In my head, I can still do it. Unfortunately your body sends you that message that it just won’t do it any more.
“That happened to me a long time ago.
“Would I love to be involved as a player today?
“For me to try to replicate an Old Firm game, it would be Everton away at Goodison or Man United at Old Trafford.
“And I used to love playing in those fixtures.
“I got loads of abuse going away from home but I thrived on it.
“Some of my best performances were in those environments.
“My players at Rangers have to see this derby as an opportunity to do that. To put their shoulders back and relish the challenge rather than come away from it with regrets.
“If we have people with that mentality then we’ll struggle.”
Steven Gerrard would walk into Rangers team and help them beat Celtic insists Danny Murphy
