Steven George Gerrard MBE (born 30 May 1980) is an English footballer who plays for and captains both Premier League club Liverpool and the England national team. He has played much of his career in a centre midfield role, but he has also been used as a second striker, holding midfielder, right back and right winger.[3][4]
Gerrard, who has spent his entire career at Anfield, made his début in 1998 and cemented his place in the first team in 2000, succeeding Sami Hyypiä as team captain in 2003. His honours include two FA Cups, three League Cups, twoCommunity Shields, one Champions League, one UEFA Cup, and two Super Cups.
Gerrard made his international debut in 2000, and has since represented England at the 2000 and 2004 European Championships, as well as the 2006 World Cup – where he was the team's top goalscorer with two goals – and the 2010 World Cup, where he first captained his country in the absence of regular captain Rio Ferdinand, who missed the tournament through injury.[5] He was named as the permanent England captain shortly before the 2012 European Championship,[6]where he was named in the UEFA Team of the Tournament.[7]
Gerrard has been described as one of the greatest English midfielders in history, "a real leader, Gerrard is a tireless runner and has superb vision. His striking from distance is feared around the world and he is a prolific scorer for a midfielder."[8]Gerrard came second only to Kenny Dalglish in the "100 Players Who Shook The Kop" – a Liverpool fan poll.[9] Zinedine Zidane said in 2009 that he considered Gerrard to be the best footballer in the world.[10] In 2005, Gerrard was honoured as the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year and won the Ballon d'Or Bronze Award. Additionally, he has been named to the PFA Team of the Year seven times, theUEFA Team of the Year and FIFA World XI three times, and was named the FWA Footballer of the Year in 2009. In 2010, The Guardian named Gerrard to their World XI team, which compiled the greatest footballers of all time onto one squad.[11] He is, to date, the only footballer ever to have scored a goal in an FA Cup Final, aLeague Cup Final, a UEFA Cup Final and a Champions League Final.
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Early life
Born in Whiston, Merseyside,[1] Gerrard started out playing for hometown team Whiston Juniors, where he was noticed by Liverpool scouts. He later joined the Liverpool Academy at the age of nine.[12] Gerrard then had trials with various clubs at fourteen, but his success wasn't immediate — Gerrard never made it into the England schoolboys' team. Gerrard's trials included Manchester United, which he claimed in his 2006 autobiography was "to pressure Liverpool into giving me a YTS contract."[13] He signed his first professional contract with Liverpool on 5 November 1997.[13]
Liverpool career
Beginnings (1998–2003)
Gerrard made his Liverpool first-team debut on 29 November 1998 in a Premier League match against Blackburn Rovers as a last-minute substitute for Vegard Heggem.[14] He made thirteen appearances in his debut season, filling in for injured captain Jamie Redknapp in centre-midfield.[12] He also occasionally played on the right wing, but he scarcely contributed in the short on-pitch time he received, due to nervousness affecting his play.[15] Gerrard recalled in a November 2008 interview with The Guardian, "I was out of position and out of my depth." The Liverpool hierarchy nonetheless remained convinced that he would improve.[15] Gerrard saw himself as a defensive player primarily, looking to make key tackles rather than push the team forward.[14]
Gerrard began to regularly partner Redknapp in central midfield for the 1999–2000 season. After starting the derby against Everton on the bench, he replaced Robbie Fowler in the second half but received his first career red card for a late foul on Everton's Kevin Campbellshortly afterwards.[16] Later that season, Gerrard scored his first senior goal in a 4–1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday.[17] However, he began to suffer from nagging back problems, which sports consultant Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt later diagnosed as a result of accelerated growth, coupled with excessive playing, during his teenage years.[13] He was then beset by groin injuries that required four separate operations.[13]
He went on to recover from this, and in the 2000–01 season made fifty starts in all competitions and scored ten goals as he won his first major honours with Liverpool – the FA Cup, League Cup, and the UEFA Cup. In the following season, he would go on to win both the FA Charity Shield and UEFA Super Cup.
