21 February 2008

Stevie is the G-latest

By PHIL THOMAS

STEVEN GERRARD is turning this season into his own version of Late Balls of Fire.
The Liverpool skipper came up trumps again on Tuesday, with the crucial last-gasp second goal against Inter Milan.
The strike, which could yet hand the Reds a Champions League quarter-final spot, was the SEVENTH time Gerrard has netted in the last 10 minutes of a match this term.
Only Cristiano Ronaldo, with nine, is a better late finisher.
But midfielder Gerrard has made a habit of last-gasp heroics. His 90th-minute strike pulled the 2006 FA Cup final against West Ham out of the fire.
And a season earlier his late goal against Olympiakos in the Champions League saved the eventual winners from a group- stage KO. Amazingly Gerrard had actually predicted another late goal to Kop team-mate Dirk Kuyt, seconds after the Dutchman gave Liverpool an 85th-minute lead against Inter.
Stevie stole the show again
Kuyt and Co would have been happy to take a one-goal cushion to the San Siro.
But he revealed: “It’s funny because I said to Stevie ‘maybe now we just need to keep the ball and get a clean sheet’.
“He said ‘no, we want another goal,’ and he was right, we got another, and that made it a great result. There is still a game to go and it will be a tough night over there, but two goals and a clean sheet is great.”
Action man Gerrard has been the big-stage hero too often for anyone at Anfield to be too open-mouthed by now.
But Scouse buddy Jamie Carragher admitted there are few players who rise to the occasion quite as readily as the England star.
Carragher insisted: “Stevie is one of the best players in the world.
“In the Champions League all the top teams come and you see some of the names they’ve got.
“But he’s the one who does the decisive thing in the end.
“There are a lot of world-class players in the big teams but Stevie stole the show again.”
Liverpool’s display against a side which tops Serie A by 11 points was a world away from the stumbling shows which have blighted their domestic campaign.
And Kuyt feels it is a result which will send shock waves across Europe, as the Reds proved yet again they have few equals when it comes to the Champions League crunch.
He added: “Everyone I’ve spoken to, especially the Dutch players around Europe, know how good Liverpool can be — even if we’ve not shown it over the last couple of games.
“First we have to beat Inter, and reach the next round, and then we can take it from there.
“The manager and all the players are saying the same thing — keep focused. We played well against Inter but want to play more like that in the Champions League and Premier League now. “If we can go a long way in this competition like last year, it would make up for the disappointments so far this season. We know we have the quality, we just have to show it on the pitch.”
No one inside Anfield believes the job is complete yet, even though the result did take some of the heat off under-fire manager Rafa Benitez.
The Reds’ cause was helped by the dismissal of Inter’s Marco Materazzi and the loss of crocked centre-back partner Ivan Cordoba.
Materazzi will be suspended for the return in three weeks, while Colombian Cordoba’s injured knee will also keep him out.
Yet Inter will still fancy their chances, thanks to an astonishing home record which has seen them win 2-0 or by three clear goals in no less than nine of their 17 San Siro fixtures this term.
And Liverpool will need no reminders of the only time they have failed after taking a two-goal lead into a European second leg — in the 1965 semi-final against Inter Milan.
Even so, Inter striker Hernan Crespo believes his side need the perfect performance if they are to save their Euro skins.
Crespo, an unused substitute on Tuesday, said: “Gerrard’s goal has done us a lot of damage because we have to play a perfect game at the San Siro.
“Our play at Anfield was nothing like what we have achieved in Serie A this season.
“It is sad to have failed at a key moment of the Champions League.”

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