Steven Gerard: Legend and perfection

Journey to Liverpool

Gerrard is not a natural football player, nor is he a boy with football genes in him. Although he started training with the Liverpool youth team at the age of 8, Gerrard was among the group of children who were considered to only “play” with the ball.

During 6 years in Liverpool’s youth team, Gerrard was almost ignored, not allowed to compete with the team, and even almost got eliminated several times. To the point, little Gerrard even had to try out for a few teams, including a period at… Manchester Utd, the club that until now, Gerrard still considers his most hated opponent (shirt collection). Gerrard’s match did not feature a Man Utd shirt).

In his autobiography published in 2006, Gerrard once revealed that his short trial days at Man Utd were actually his way of putting pressure on the leaders of Liverpool’s youth team, hoping to earn a contract.

Gerrard won the Champions League with Liverpool in 2005.

It seems that Gerrard’s actions did not make Liverpool pay attention to him. For 2 years, from the age of 14 to the age of 16, Gerrard was almost unable to compete in youth tournaments. At that time, Gerrard only played 20 official matches, including 16 as a substitute. That number is not enough to qualify for a professional contract. Furthermore, at that time Gerrard was “under more scrutiny” when Liverpool applied advanced medical techniques. Gerrard was eliminated due to his modest height, only about 1m50, with unreliable biological indicators.

In an annual comprehensive evaluation of the youth training system, Liverpool’s doctors all agreed that Gerrard’s physical condition did not meet the professional football environment. But the coaches tried to protect and give Gerrard a chance by providing medical treatment so that Gerrard could compete at the highest level, with the hope of not missing out on talent.

With medical and nutritional support, Gerrard threw himself into muscle growth training, but worse things happened when the overload caused him many back problems, limiting him from playing contact football. cannot play football with muscle strength. Once again, Gerrard faces the risk of leaving Liverpool.

At the most critical moment, the savior appeared. That is coach Gérard Houllier. After once watching Gerrard play in the youth team, he decided to bring him to the first team with the slim hope of revolutionizing this team. Even at that time, despite being 19 years old, Gerrard also appeared faintly, not mentioned, with the main task being: sitting on the bench. But an incident happened that changed Gerrard’s fate. That’s Jamie Redknapp’s injury. With no one left to replace him, Houllier took the risk of using Gerrard and suddenly, a talent was found when hopes for him were almost gone.

Gerrard’s contributions continued to grow and on October 15, 2003, the boy who was neither tall nor heavy enough to play professionally wore the Liverpool captain’s armband for the first time. A dream come true since childhood: “I was captain of the school football team, and I used to go to Anfield to watch Liverpool play. I watched Barnes with the captain’s armband and dreamed of one day Someone will wear that armband on the team I love.”

Journey of a legend

The captaincy that day brought Gerrard to a new opportunity, a time full of glory and countless obstacles. Gerrard had a great 2006/2007 season. He played in 52 of the club’s maximum 59 matches that season. Gerrard’s peak was two finals: the first was the UEFA Cup final in the 2000/2001 season, Liverpool defeated Alaves of Spain with a score of 5-4 (in which Gerrard scored 1 goal). And the most special and memorable was the Champions League final of the 2004/2005 season against AC Milan.

Gerrard, captain of the England national team.

Despite being 3-0 down after the first half, it was Gerrard who started the most spectacular overthrow in European Cup history with 1 goal, and they ended 120 minutes of play with a score of 3-3. In the penalty shootout, Liverpool won to be crowned champion.

That resounding success not only made Gerrard a big star of Anfield but of the entire English football scene. A series of big clubs want Gerrard at all costs. And right at that time, English football began to transform violently with the wave of foreign billionaires buying clubs, with endless sources of money, making big teams become superpowers, with the right to make decisions. everything with the power of money. From Chelsea to Man Utd, billionaires are pumping money freely, and it is easy for them to spend a large amount of money to bring in Gerrard. In the end, they succeeded. Specifically here is Chelsea.

For tycoon Abramovich, no star can escape the charm of Chelsea, as long as the Russian billionaire likes it. And Gerrard was suggested to sign a contract rumored to be a record (about 30 million pounds), with a salary double the salary he received at Liverpool (120,000 pounds/week).

A group of Liverpool gangsters announced that they would shoot Gerrard’s legs if he agreed to join Chelsea. Even the Gerrard family will pay the price. So even though he agreed to all the deals with Chelsea, Gerrard still had to cancel his decision and stay at Liverpool until his retirement. And it is because of those fierce threats that Gerrard has become a great monument, a symbol of a player who is associated with Liverpool for life!

However, during 17 years of playing in the Premier League, even though he won all the glory: he was captain of the English National Team, participated in EURO and World Cup tournaments, won the FA Cup, League Cup, and UEFA Champions League. Cup, winning the Champions League, but Gerrard’s career is still considered unfinished. All because he has never won the Premier League once. It’s a shortfall in Gerrard’s seemingly well-rounded career. People also say that Gerrard is the “King without a throne”, because the value of the Premier League championship always has great significance for every player playing here.

T.Henry, D.Bergkamp, ​​Beckham, Cantona, Hughes, Giggs… all the talented people, the brightest stars in the history of the Premier League era all have championships in their hands. They left with satisfaction. Only Gerrard, a hard-working legend, is the one who has stayed with one club the longest, but is the only one who has not won the Premier League championship, even though Liverpool is a big team.

Desirable roundness

In England, there are four clubs considered the traditional “big four”, including Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. In the Premier League era, Man Utd had 7 official captains, all 7 of whom had at least 2 Premier League championship titles (at least Bryan Robson). Arsenal has 6 captains, 4 of whom won the Premier League with Arsenal, and 2 who were crowned with other clubs (Gallas twice with Chelsea and van Persie once with Man Utd).

FA Cup championship in 2006.

Chelsea, a team with tradition but in decline and only “flourishing” since Abramovich appeared, only has 4 people considered true captains in the Premier League era: Lampard, Terry, D.Wise and M. Desailly. Lampard and Terry both have 3 titles, only Wise and Desailly have none. Liverpool has had 6 captains in the Premier League era, the first 3 of whom won the English championship (Paul Ince, John Barnes and Ian Rush). Thus, in the “top 4” of English football, only 2 captains of Chelsea and… 3 captains of Liverpool are without titles.

However, that is not the factor that makes Gerrard’s career not truly fulfilling. Because the captains before Gerrard like Samy Hyypia and Jamie Redknapp did not win the English championship. Redknapp doesn’t even have a chance to win the Champions League like Gerrard. And if you consider the Champions League as the toughest and most prestigious tournament in Europe, Gerrard is better than many legends: Eric Cantona, Bergkamp, ​​Mark Hughes… And if we talk about legends who have never participated in the EURO or World Cup. Like Giggs, Gerrard is still truly “rounded” and desirable. If there is any regret, perhaps, it is that Liverpool was eliminated in the semi-finals of this year’s FA Cup, and could not be present in the final, held at Wembley on his 35th birthday (the 30th). /5).

To find a perfection like “fat” Ronaldo (who has all the titles) is not easy in football. Perfection comes from the greatness that a player can create. Gerrard had it all at Liverpool. Fame, respect, an image associated with an entire era of Liverpool and the most prestigious titles, with the most glorious times. At that time, a Premier League championship may be lacking, but it cannot reduce the roundness of a great captain, a name that has become legendary!