Only a few hundred metres separate Anfield and Goodison Park, the grounds where Steven Gerrard is routinely celebrated and castigated.
It is the shortest journey on the farewell tour.
Barring an improbable, but enticing, meeting in the Europa League, his 33rd Merseyside derby will be his last.
This is the final chance to see the hometown hero in what remains, despite cosmopolitan playing staffs and a globalised game, a defiantly local affair.
He has been the subject of taunts and scorer of goals, the man who has exited in disgrace and decided the game with sheer brilliance.
He has been a constant in a changing era at both clubs and represents a reason why red has generally trumped blue in the 21st century.
“I’m sure they’ll be glad to see the back of him,” Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said.
Gerrard approaches the game with a native’s relish.
“It’s the fixture that I look for at the beginning of the season,” the midfielder told Liverpool’s website. “I love playing against Everton. I’ve got friends and family members who are big Blues.”
It is safe to say that if Los Angeles Galaxy get a city rival, now the Chivas franchise is no more, while Gerrard is still there, the clash will not have the same meaning to him as the derbies he has played in the past.
It will not have the same history, nor he such a place in it.
He made his 700th Liverpool appearance at Bolton Wanderers on Wednesday in the FA Cup and will bow out third in the all-time charts.
This is a rivalry that has dated back 121 years but those 33 games will give him a share of fourth place with another decorated captain, Liverpool’s 1980s leader Alan Hansen.
His total of 10 goals includes two in the past two games and is bettered only by one other Liverpool forward, the club’s record goalscorer Ian Rush.
He shares the unwanted distinction of being one of only two men dismissed twice in Merseyside derbies; Phil Neville, his opposing captain for several seasons, was the other.
Gerrard’s first red card is an appropriate place to look back on his record against the Merseyside rival.
It was not Gerrard’s derby debut, but it was the first time he made a mark against Everton.
Introduced as a substitute in a bad-tempered game in 1999 at Anfield, he became the third man to make an early exit for a reckless tackle on Kevin Campbell.
That same night, he recalled wryly last year, he went out grumpily for a meal and bumped into Campbell.
The man-mountain of an Everton striker lowered his trousers to show the stud marks on his thigh.
His other red came with two cautions in the space of the first 18 minutes at Anfield in 2006 – the passions of a tribal affair can get the better of him.
In 2007, Rafa Benitez courted controversy by substituting his captain with the game level at 1-1 – preferring the cooler head and the tactical discipline of Lucas Leiva – and was vindicated by the eventual victory.
More often, though, Gerrard has emerged triumphant.
He is the sole survivor of Everton’s last win at Anfield, in 1999, but only five of his 32 derbies have ended in defeat.
Gerrard played his part in sparing Liverpool a loss last year at Goodison Park in perhaps the greatest Liverpool-Everton meeting. His 89th-minute free kick was headed in by Daniel Sturridge to secure a 3-3 draw.
His dead-ball expertise was apparent again in September when Gerrard put Liverpool ahead with a free kick at Anfield.
He was denied the status of match winner by a late equaliser from Phil Jagielka.
Yet one of Gerrard’s most compelling qualities, one of his foremost claims to greatness, is his capacity to win matches single-handed.
The March 2012 meeting at Anfield was a case in point when Liverpool triumphed 3-0 and, as one of their most inspirational captains, Graeme Souness, said afterwards, if Gerrard had lined up for Everton, they would have won by the same scoreline.
“I’d look back on the game I scored a hat-trick in,” Gerrard said, when asked for a favourite memory.
It was the only treble by a Liverpool player against their neighbours in three decades.
That was Gerrard, a brilliant throwback, an anachronism with his all-action style, a lifelong Liverpool fan who dreaded defeat to Everton and rarely tasted it.
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