Liverpool trailed 2-0 to West Ham at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium inside the opening half an hour, but Gerrard’s raking pass soon teed up Djibril Cisse to volley a goal back before the skipper smashed the Merseysiders level nine minutes after the restart.
I had a perfect day with two goals and an assist. I’m flattered when people call it ‘The Gerrard Final’ but that’s disrespectful to everybody else. It’s a team game – it was just my day
Paul Konchesky’s 64th-minute cross sailed over Pepe Reina’s head and in to restore the underdogs’ advantage, and Alan Pardew’s Hammers appeared poised to lift the cup for the first time since 1980 until Gerrard’s dramatic intervention.
While the stadium announcer was busy informing fans that there would be four minutes of added time, Gerrard sent a 35-yard howitzer past Shaka Hislop to force extra time and penalties, with Gerrard netting his spot-kick in a 3-1 shootout win.
Speaking exclusively in the December 2017 issue of FourFourTwo, he says: “I’ve been asked many times what my best ever display was – it was probably this.
"I had a perfect day with two goals and an assist. I’m flattered when people call it ‘The Gerrard Final’ but I do think that’s disrespectful to everybody else. It’s a team game – it was just my day.”
Discover three more games which changed Steven Gerrard’s life in the December 2017 issue of FourFourTwo magazine – a strikers special in which we interview Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus and Chelsea's Alvaro Morata, and reveal the 30 greatest Premier League forwards of all time. Also this month, we meet the father and son working wonders at non-league Harrogate Town, go One-on-One with Brazilian right-back Dani Alves, find out if 3G pitches are the future of the Football League, and hear about the turmoil Tony Adams went through before, during and after Euro 96. Order a copy now, then subscribe!
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