page_title: Steven Gerrard
section_title: 2012–2015: Final seasons with Liverpool
hierarchical_section_title: Steven Gerrard / Club career / Liverpool / 2012–2015: Final seasons with Liverpool
caption_attribution_description: Steven Gerrard during Steven Gerrard's testimonial on 3 August 2013.
context_page_description: Steven George Gerrard MBE is an English professional football manager and former player who manages Scottish Premiership club Rangers. He spent the majority of his playing career as a central midfielder for Liverpool, with most of that time spent as club captain, as well as captaining the England national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation, and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players, 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 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 in Whiston, Merseyside, Gerrard made his senior debut for Liverpool in 1998. In 2000–01, Gerrard helped Liverpool secure an unpredicted treble of cups, and after further cup success the next season, Gerrard was given the captaincy in 2003.
context_section_description: On 18 August 2012, Gerrard played his 250th match as Liverpool captain. He scored his first Premier League goal of the season on 23 September, opening the scoring in a 2–1 defeat against Manchester United.
  On 15 July 2013, Gerrard signed a contract extension with Liverpool. On 3 August 2013, Liverpool played Olympiacos, against whom Gerrard scored arguably his most celebrated goal, at Anfield for Gerrard's charity fund-raising testimonial match. Liverpool won the match 2–0, in a game where past players such as Jamie Carragher and Robbie Fowler made appearances. Alder Hey Children's Charity, of which Gerrard is a founding partner, received £500,000 from the proceeds. On 16 September, Gerrard captained Liverpool for the 400th time in a 2–2 draw at Swansea City. On 5 October, Gerrard scored in a 3–1 win over Crystal Palace, becoming Liverpool's first ever player to score in 15 successive league campaigns, overtaking the record previously set by Billy Liddell. Also in October 2013, he became the longest-serving Liverpool captain, 10 years after his appointment by Gérard Houllier on 15 October 2013, breaking the previous record held by Alex Raisbeck, who captained Liverpool from 1899 to 1909. On 19 October 2013, Gerrard scored his 100th Premier League goal, a penalty against Newcastle United in a 2–2 draw.
  On 16 March 2014, Gerrard scored two penalties and missed another in Liverpool's 3–0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford. On 6 April, he scored another two penalties as Liverpool beat West Ham United 2–1 to go top of the Premier League table with five matches to play. These goals took him above Kenny Dalglish as Liverpool's sixth-top goalscorer of all time.
  On 27 April, Gerrard was involved in what was later labelled as a defining moment of the 2013–14 Premier League season; where Liverpool would ultimately finish second. Liverpool originally topped the league when they faced Chelsea in their third last match of the season. Gerrard slipped while receiving a pass which allowed Demba Ba to score the opening goal for Chelsea; Chelsea went on to win 2–0, which meant that Liverpool's title hopes were no longer in their own hands. Gerrard finished the season with 13 goals and the League's most assists at 13. Gerrard was a nominee for the PFA Player of the Year award that year, while he won the 2014 Liverpool Echo Sports Personality Award. Gerrard would later refer to this period as "the worst three months of my life".
  In October 2014, Gerrard ruled out retiring at the end of the 2014–15 season and said that he could join another club if he were not offered a new contract at Liverpool. On 1 January 2015, Gerrard announced that he would leave Liverpool at the end of the season. Gerrard said he would have signed a new contract had it been offered in the offseason, but said the club did not make an offer until November. By that time, Brendan Rodgers had spoken to him about managing his playing time and he had been left out of the starting line-up against Real Madrid in the Champions League, contributing to his decision to leave Liverpool.  On 5 January 2015, Gerrard scored two goals in his first game after announcing his departure in the FA Cup 3rd round tie in a 2–1 win at AFC Wimbledon This followed another two-goal performance in the previous match against Leicester, the first time he scored two or more goals in consecutive games since July 2005. On 4 February 2015, he made his 700th appearance for Liverpool, in FA Cup tie against Bolton.
  On 22 March, Gerrard was sent off 38 seconds after coming on as a half-time substitute in a match against Manchester United for stamping on Ander Herrera. Gerrard made his 500th league appearance for Liverpool in a goalless draw against West Brom on 25 April; he became only the third player ever to achieve 500 or more Premier League appearances for one club, after Ryan Giggs and former teammate Jamie Carragher. His final appearance for Liverpool at Anfield was on 16 May against Crystal Palace in a 1–3 loss. His final appearance for the club was eight days later in a 6–1 defeat at Stoke, wi
caption: Gerrard during his testimonial in August 2013
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