STEVIE'S KOP 10 MILESTONES

Joe Curran 21 November 2008
	Everyone from Thierry Henry to Jamie Redknapp have said their piece in our week-long celebration of Steven Gerrard's ten years at the club, now we pay homage to our inspirational number eight with his very own Kop 10 of personal achievements.
Debut Cast your mind back to November 29 1998. A cosmetically enhanced Cher was top of the charts with 'Believe' and Bill Clinton was still insisting 'I did not have sexual relations with that woman'. But on the football front a fresh-faced boy from Huyton by the name of Steven George Gerrard made his first appearance for Liverpool's senior team. Gerrard came on as a 90th-minute substitute for Vegard Heggem when Liverpool were comfortably 2-0 up against Blackburn Rovers at Anfield. It might have only been a cameo appearance, but in that short period of injury time he showed the kind of commitment and drive that would become a prevailing feature of his future Reds career. Chomping at the bit and eager to make an impression, Gerrard instantly won over the Kop by thundering into a crunching challenge on the right-hand touchline. Gerrard went on to make 13 appearances as understudy to Jamie Redknapp that season; his most memorable contribution being a 20-minute cameo appearance in his first Merseyside derby. He played a key role in that 3-2 victory at Anfield and kept the Reds in the game by clearing off the line twice. First goal Gerard Houllier used Gerrard at right-back and in a central midfield role before the teenager showed he also knew how to strike a ball against Sheffield Wednesday in December 1999. It was his 25th match in a Liverpool shirt when he scored his first goal for the club - and what a goal. Stevie plundered the Reds' third in a 4-1 victory with a dazzling run, a drop of the shoulder and a coolly drilled low effort into the far corner to beat Kevin Pressman. He was still showing the world what he could do when he netted his first goal and a scintillating performance in a 3-1 win over Leeds United two months later would confirm Gerrard as one of English football's brightest hopes at the time. PFA Awards With 10 goals to his name and the world at his feet, a 20-year-old Gerrard picked up his first major personal accolade in April 2001. Fending off competition from the likes of Emile Heskey, Wes Brown, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole and Alan Smith, Stevie's outstanding performances in helping the Reds to three cup finals that year secured him the PFA Young Player of the Year award. "I was in contention for this award last year and I really wanted to win it this year," said Gerrard at the time. "I'm pleased I have won it because it was a very good shortlist and there are some very good young players around at the moment." Five years and a cabinet-load of trophies later, Gerrard was voted by his peers to win the PFA Players' Player of The Year award. Treble season Never one to do things by halves, Gerrard didn't win one trophy in his debut season as a first-team regular. He only went and helped the Reds to three. Instrumental from start to finish, Gerrard played in Michael Owen to score time after time across successful campaigns in the League Cup, FA Cup and Uefa Cup. The all-action midfielder's crucial strike against Alaves in the Uefa Cup final put the icing on the cake of this truly magnificent season in which Liverpool also qualified for the Champions League for the first time in their history. Captaincy Aged just 23, Stevie took over from Sami Hyypia as Liverpool captain in October 2003. His first game with the armband saw the Reds run out 3-0 winners over to Slovenian side NK Olimpija Ljubljana in the Uefa Cup first round second leg. On hearing the news that he would follow in the footsteps of greats like Graeme Souness and Emlyn Hughes - to name but a few - Gerrard could not hide his delight. "The manager has always said I would captain the club one day but it was a shock yesterday when Gerard Houllier told me I was to be captain from now on," he said at the time. "I was captain of my school side and I used to go along to Anfield to watch the team and I always looked up to people like John Barnes who captained the team during the 90s. "I want to blossom into a world class player - something I'm not yet - and hopefully captaining Liverpool will help me achieve that ambition." Without doubt his crowning glory was lifting the Champions League trophy on 25 May, but his contribution was not restricted to one powerful header against AC Milan. Whether it be his brace against Graz AK; his 25-yard thunderbolt against Olympiacos; the superb free-kick to beat Everton; his 54th-minute header against AC Milan or his excellent performance at right-back while the Reds were under the kosh in Istanbul, this season is littered with personal triumphs for Steven Gerrard. Never ones to remind people how many times Liverpool have won the European Cup, Reds fans everywhere look back on that year, and that final, as Gerrard's defining season. His name has been commonly prefixed with 'the inspirational' ever since. The Gerrard final Down and out; dead and buried; on the ropes - put it however you like, Liverpool really looked like they were heading for defeat in the 2006 FA Cup Final. Losing 2-1 and with only stoppage time left to play, Liverpool really needed something extraordinarily special to get back into this one, and Gerrard popped up just in the nick of time to score his second and force the match into extra-time. Like Rafa Benitez said earlier in the week, Steven Gerrard doesn't just score goals, he scores special goals - and this was a prime example. The skipper powered an incredible drive beyond the despairing dive of Shaka Hislop and into the far corner of the net to save the Reds once again. Liverpool took home the FA Cup for the seventh time in their history that day, and it was in no small part down to another Steven Gerrard landmark. MBE Recognition of the highest order came for Stevie in December 2006. Named in the New Year's honours list that year, Gerrard went to meet the queen and became a Member of the British Empire. Another personal achievement and a proud day for his family, the phrase 'outstanding achievement to football' has never been more appropriately used than when describing Steven Gerrard - and he certainly cut a dash at Buckingham Palace that day too. European goal records The skipper now holds pretty much all the European Cup scoring records you can think of for Liverpool. He holds the record for most goals in Europe as a whole for Liverpool and also most goals in the European Cup on its own. In August 2005 he became the first player in Liverpool's history to score in five successive European matches, while in the 2005/06 season he equalled the club record by scoring seven European Cup goals in one season. Then in 2007/08 he became the first player to score in four successive European games at Anfield. 100th goal The Reds skipper recently joined the likes of Ian Rush, Roger Hunt, Billy Lidell and Kenny Dalglish in Liverpool's elite 100 club when he fired home a trademark free-kick in front of the Kop against PSV Eindhoven. It might have felt like a long time coming after having one disallowed against Stoke City, but a century of strikes in just over 400 games is not easy. Put it this way: Gerrard scored 100 goals for Liverpool in 448 matches, while Bobby Charlton found the net 249 times for Manchester United over the course of 758 appearances. Not bad, eh? from liverpoolfc.tv