GREATEST MERSEYSIDE RED CAPTAIN

                                          GREATEST MERSEYSIDE RED CAPTAIN

Steven George Gerrard, MBE (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football coach and former footballer who serves as an academy coach at Liverpool. He spent the majority of his playing career as a central midfielder for Liverpool and the England national team, with most of that time spent as club captain. Regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation,Gerrard was awarded the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year award in 2005, and the Ballon d'Or Bronze Award. In 2009, Zinedine Zidane and Pelé said that they considered Gerrard to be the best footballer in the world. A versatile and well-rounded player, highly regarded for his leadership, Gerrard is the only footballer in history to score in an FA Cup Final, a League Cup Final, a UEFA Cup Final and a UEFA Champions League Final, winning on each occasion.

Born and raised in Whiston, Merseyside, Gerrard joined the Liverpool Academy at age 9, after being noticed by scouts. At age 17, he signed his first professional contract with Liverpool and made his senior debut a year later in 1998. In the 2000-01 season, Gerrard helped Liverpool secure a treble of the League Cup, the UEFA Cup and the FA Cup. A UEFA Super Cup and another League Cup followed, and Gerrard was appointed team captain in 2003. In 2005, Gerrard led Liverpool to a historic fifth European title, scoring a crucial late goal in the group stages, and being named Man of the Match as he scored Liverpool's first goal and won the penalty kick for the third as Liverpool came from 3–0 down to defeat Milan in what became known as the Miracle of Istanbul, regarded as one of the greatest finals in the history of the tournament.

In his 17 seasons at Anfield, Gerrard won a total of two FA Cups, three League Cups, one UEFA Champions League, one UEFA Cup, and one UEFA Super Cup. He was named in the PFA Team of the Year a record eight times, the UEFA Team of the Year and FIFA World XI three times, was named PFA Players' Player of the Year in 2006 and the FWA Footballer of the Year in 2009 and came second to Kenny Dalglish in a Liverpool fan poll of "100 Players Who Shook The Kop" in 2008. Despite collective and individual success, Gerrard never won the Premier League, finishing runner-up with Liverpool on three occassions. He joined Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy in July 2015, spending one-and-a-half seasons there before retiring on 24 November 2016.

At international level, Gerrard is the fourth-most capped player in the history of the England national team with 114 caps, scoring 21 goals. Gerrard made his international debut in 2000, and represented his country at the 2000, 2004 and 2012 UEFA European Football Championships, as well as the 2006, 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups, captaining the team for the latter two tournaments. He was named as the permanent England captain shortly before UEFA Euro 2012, where he was named in the UEFA Team of the Tournament. Gerrard won his 100th cap in 2012, becoming the sixth player to reach that milestone for England. Gerrard announced his retirement from international football on 21 July 2014.

On 7 January 2015, the LA Galaxy of Major League Soccer announced the signing of Gerrard to an 18-month Designated Player contract, reportedly worth $9 million. He joined the team in July, following the end of the 2014–15 Premier League season.

On 11 July, Gerrard made his debut for the club in a mid-season friendly match against Club América, playing the first 45 minutes of the match in which Galaxy won 2–1. Three days later, Gerrard made his competitive debut for LA, coming on at half time for Ignacio Maganto in a 1–0 loss at Real Salt Lake in the U.S. Open Cup quarter-finals. He made his MLS debut on 17 July, scoring once, while assisting one goal of his former Liverpool teammate Robbie Keane's hat-trick, during a 5–2 defeat of fellow Californians the San Jose Earthquakes at the StubHub Center. That month, Gerrard was one of the 22 players to be named to the 2015 MLS All-Star Game roster. He made 13 appearances across the regular season, scoring one more goal, the team's last of a 3–2 home win over FC Dallas on 27 September.After the Galaxy were eliminated from the 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs by Seattle Sounders FC, Gerrard announced that he may retire in 2016, saying that he found unexpected difficulty in the long journeys to away matches in the United States, and the diverse altitude and weather across the country.

Gerrard played his final game for Galaxy on 6 November 2016 in a MLS Cup Playoff penalty-shootout loss to Colorado Rapids. Gerrard took and scored Los Angeles' first spot-kick but the club were eliminated after Giovanni dos Santos and Ashley Cole failed to convert. Nine days later, he stated he would be leaving on the expiration of his contract. He then had an interview for the vacant managerial post at League One club Milton Keynes Dons, but said that he was not ready for the job. Gerrard announced his retirement from professional football on 24 November, at age 36.

In January 2017, he was appointed youth coach at Liverpool, effective from February 2017.