‘The best night of my life’: Steven Gerrard reflects on career highs ahead of Anfield farewell

Ahead of his final appearance at Anfield as a Liverpool player, Steven Gerrard reflects on the highs and lows of his remarkable career.

Steven Gerrard will make his final appearance as a Liverpool layer at Anfield against Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Steven Gerrard had apologised to his teammates for hogging the limelight this week.

He had twice refused the invitation offered by questioners to brand himself a Liverpool legend in what was an exercise in humility and also turned out to be one in factual accuracy.

It was suggested that he had scored 184 goals for Liverpool. “One hundred-and-eighty-five,” interjected a familiar voice, typically curtly.

Gerrard has never been one to boast, but he only took false modesty so far. He knows his place in history, even if he leaves others to spell it out.

His rhetoric has long been rooted in reality, providing a counterpoint to a career of stratospheric highs and depressing lows. It is why his words have always carried meaning.

As he prepares to play his last home game for Liverpool, against Crystal Palace on Saturday, he reflected with pride, disappointment and, at times, disbelief.

“I have achieved an awful lot more than I thought I would,” he said.

Gerrard has a 26-year relationship with Liverpool, dating from when he first attended their Centre of Excellence.

“If someone had said to me at eight when I used to get two buses to Anfield to train that you are going to play 708 games, win the trophies you have but have some low points, I would have taken that,” he said.

Being the brooding, introspective character he is, Gerrard alighted on the blot in an otherwise stellar CV. “Not winning the Premier League is a dent in that,” he said.

“There is nothing I can do about it now but it is certainly a regret I will go away with.”

He finished a runner-up three times, most recently last season. The sense is that thoughts of his infamous slip against Chelsea will linger with him long into the sunset of his life. So, too, with the spine-tingling memories of the night in Istanbul that, whatever he thinks, created a legend.

That night he became the force of nature who fashioned the greatest comeback of all, the Liverpool local who lifted the European Cup.

“Still to this day the hairs on my neck stand up,” he said. “It was the best night of my life. It was the pinnacle professionally and the best cup to win. I think it will go down in history as the best Champions League final ever.”

It was the worst for AC Milan.

Ten years on from that May day, Gerrard is set to appear at Anfield for a 354th and final occasion tomorrow.

Selecting highlights proved difficult. He settled for two: the December 2004 thunderbolt against Olympiakos, without which Liverpool would have been cast out of the Champions League long before they reached Istanbul, and the 2012 hat-trick against Everton.

“After all the stick I have had from the Bluenoses, that was nice,” he said.

Graeme Souness, a rival for the title of Liverpool’s greatest central midfielder, said at the time that if Gerrard had played for Everton, they would have won that game 3-0 instead, such was the power of his individual ­inspiration.

“I have always tried to pull for the team,” Gerrard said, but rarely has a team game been influenced so much by one man.

That propensity to affect all around him was recognised by Gerard Houllier, who appointed Gerrard captain at 23. “A very brave thing to do,” Gerrard said. “He was like a father figure.”

In a valedictory appearance at Liverpool’s Melwood training ground, he thanked those who have shaped a unique career and attempted to exert an influence on the future by dispensing advice to the next generations.

Raheem Sterling, he said, should stay at Anfield, rather than following Gerrard out of the exit. The winger’s contract dispute has the potential to lead to an acrimonious parting.

Gerrard’s goodbye is certain to be emotional. “The aim is to stay strong and avoid a few tears,” he said.

It has rarely been Gerrard’s way to show weakness, he does not intend to start now.