2005? We'd seen it all before...
Steven Gerrard scoring in a dramatic European final? Minds travel first, inevitably, to Istanbul in 2005. Often forgotten however by neutrals, but seldom by reds, our departing captain had in fact managed this feat before, in Dortmund in 2001.
2001 was an incredible year for Liverpool. Between 1993 and 2000, after decades of success, the club won the paltry total of one League Cup. Roy Evans' team played with flair but without consistency or defensive certainty. Gerard Houllier joined in 1998 and, after an ill-thought-out joint role with Evans, led something of a resurgence. Among his wisest decisions was to give Steven Gerrard his debut, barely two weeks after Evans' departure.
Two years later, Steven Gerrard was a mainstay. In 2000-2001, at the tender age of 20, Gerrard made 50 first team appearances, scoring a respectable 10 goals, including a stunner against Man Utd, the opening goal in a memorable 4-0 thumping of Arsenal, and his first European goal in the 3rd Round UEFA Cup trip to Olympiakos. Steven Gerrard was voted PFA Young Player of the Year for his role in an incredible season in which Liverpool secured a return to the Champions League and won an historic treble.
The pinnacle of this, for me, was the UEFA Cup final. Gerrard had started the League Cup final, playing 78 minutes before being replaced by Gary Mac. He then played 90 minutes of the FA Cup final, though Owen was the hero on that day. Four days later, Steven George Gerrard started at the centre of Liverpool's midfield in the club's first European final since the tragedy in Heysel in 1985, and the first UEFA Cup final since 1976.
The game is almost a blur for me now. Goal, after goal, after goal. Take the lead, comeback. Lead again, late leveller. Golden goal, unbelievable. At the heart of it all though, for 116 exhausting minutes, was 20 year old Gerrard, giving a typical all-action performance. And of course, he scored. With the reds a goal up through Marcus Babbel, Didi Hamann stole the ball in midfield and rolled it to Michael Owen. Gerrard's youthful legs carried him forward, directed into a wonderful position by a fine footballing brain. Owen picked him out (with a lovely pass to give him credit) and Gerrard finished with a coolness that belied his years, before celebrating wildly.
Later in the game, with the score at 3-3, Liverpool brought Vladi Smicer on for Stephane Henchoz, shifting Gerrard to right back. 3-3? Smicer off the bench? Gerrard at right back? 2005 was just history repeating itself.
The reds kept working til the very end, Gerrard preventing a goal in stoppage time with excellently judged defensive pressure, before whipping in a cross in extra time that Robbie Fowler so nearly got on the end of. An own golden goal gave Liverpool the trophy with minutes left before penalties. The treble was complete, and Liverpool, Steven Gerrard among them, celebrated deliriously. 5-4, one of the most incredible finals you'll ever witness, and a 20 year old local lad at the very heart of it. Gerrard's goal in the final was to start a fantastic run - he scored in the 2003 League Cup final, (the 2005 League Cup final, albeit in the wrong net
), the 2005 CL final, and he got two in the 2006 FA Cup final. But this was the first, and represented the start of 5 or 6 amazing years of finals and trophies, with Gerrard at the heart.
2001 for me was a coming of age for Gerrard. Not just a talented local midfielder, but a superstar in the making. A tough tackler, superb passer and a goalscorer. 5 trophies in the calendar year and his first international goal, a brilliant strike in Liverpool's 5-1 demolition of Germany. The true beginning of the legend. He will be massively missed, but gave us so many fantastic memories.
Good luck Stevie
