Steven Gerrard - Hero of Liverpool

Full name: Steven George Gerrard
Date of birth: May 30th, 1980
Place of birth: Whiston, Merseyside
Position: Midfielder
Club: Liverpool

Steven George Gerrard started out playing for hometown team Whiston Juniors, where he was noticed by Liverpool scouts. He joined the Reds' youth academy at the age of nine. He signed his first professional contract with Liverpool on 5 November 1997.

Gerrard made his Liverpool first-team debut on 29 November 1998 in a match against Blackburn Rovers as a last minute substitute for Vegard Heggem.

2004/05: A broken bone in his foot left Gerrard sidelined for two months from September, but he returned to strike the late goal against Olympiacos CFP to take Liverpool past the group stage. During a six-minute stretch in the second half of the 2005 Champions League final against A.C. Milan, Liverpool rebounded from a three-goal deficit to tie the match at 3–3 after extra time, with Gerrard scoring one of the goals. He did not participate in the penalty shootout, which Liverpool won 3–2 as they claimed their first CL trophy in twenty years, though he was named the Man of the Match, and later received the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year award.

Although he then seemed set to leave Anfield, he had a dramatic change of heart and signed a new four-year contract. Typically, he struck a hat-trick in the first game after agreeing his new deal, in the Champions League first qualifying round against Total Network Solutions FC.

Despite winning the Champions League in 2004/05 and reaching the final in 2006/07 Gerrard's gripe is that Liverpool have failed to mount a challenge on the Premier League title.

Gerrard has limitless energy, has a great eye for a final pass and is a prolific scorer for a midfielder - often scoring blistering long-range strikes that has become his trademark.

Gerrard is simply one of the outstanding performers of the Premier League, a star of the European stage and the kind of player every team in the world would have.