Stevie G exquisite talent who was true trailblazer

STEVEN Gerrard, who retired from professional football yesterday, will be remembered almost as much for his agonising nearmisses as for his extraordinary achievements. The 36-year-old captained hometown club Liverpool for 12 years, famously lifting the Champions League trophy in 2005 after an unforgettable comeback against AC Milan. But coveted successes elsewhere escaped him.

Although he also won two FA Cups, three League Cups and the Uefa Cup, he never laid his hands on the Premier League trophy and met with nothing but heartbreak in his 14-year England career.

He left Liverpool last year after a 12-month period that reflected the latter years of his career in microcosm – glorious opportunity, followed by crushing disappointment.

Gerrard was poised to capture his first Premier League crown in 2014, but his cruel slip during a loss to Chelsea at an expectant Anfield tilted the momentum in the title race in Manchester City’s favour.

The pain was all the keener for Gerrard as it coincided with the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, in which his 10-year-old cousin, Jon-Paul Gilhooley, was the youngest of the 96 Liverpool fans who died. Weeks later, Gerrard went to Brazil hoping to salve his wounds at the World Cup, only for England to crash out after two matches in what would prove his final international tournament.

“It’s probably been the worst three months of my life,” he admitted afterwards.

He finished his career with a sun-kissed 18-month stint in California, by signing for the LA Galaxy. However, Stateside silverware would elude him.

Gerrard endured more than his fair share of disappointment after inspiring Liverpool to glory in the 2006 FA Cup, with the 2012 League Cup the only major honour he won subsequently.

Playing for England, which he did on 114 occasions, captaining the team at three major tournaments, scarcely offered respite. But taken as a whole, in his club career – which began when he walked through the doors of Liverpool’s academy at age eight – he scaled nearly every summit.

From the header that sparked the comeback to end all comebacks against Milan in Istanbul to the jaw-dropping 35-metre thunderbolt against West Ham United that took the 2006 FA Cup final to extra time, Gerrard swaggered through his Anfield career with the audacity of a comicbook hero.

However, a turbo-charged midfield dynamo in his pomp, he came third in the voting for the Ballon d’Or in 2005 and was voted the greatest player in Liverpool’s history by fans in a 2013 poll.

No less a judge than Zinedine Zidane observed in 2009: “Is he the best in the world? He might not get the attention of Messi and Ronaldo, but yes, I think he might be.”

Unlike Beckham, Gerrard shied away from the celebrity lifestyle, but at his peak he hogged England’s football limelight like few before him. — AFP