He assumed the club captaincy in 2003 when he was just 23 years old.
Gerrard recently appeared on RTE’s The Late Show and told the story of why then-LFC manager Gerard Houllier made a talented but shy local boy the club captain.
“It was a difficult situation when I first received the armband because it means someone else is going to lose it, and that guy wasn’t happy,” Gerrard said. “It was Sami Hyypia. He was a really good friend of mine. Sami was really sad and disappointed to lose it, and I was overjoyed to receive it.
“It wasn’t until Sami pulled me in, one-on-one, and said, ‘Listen, no hard feelings, you deserve it. You’ve dreamed of being a captain since a young boy. It means more to you than me.’ That’s when it really sunk in, and I was happy to do the job.
“Looking back, I was still young, but I think the reason that Gerard Houllier gave me the captaincy at such a young age was that he wanted me to come out of my shell. I was really quiet at the time, one of the younger guys in the dressing room.
“But he wanted me to grow, to have more responsibility and believe in myself. It certainly helped me to become the player I am.”
Gerrard also described the feeling of lifting the UEFA Champions League trophy in Istanbul as the culmination of blood, sweat and tears. There were fears that he would join Chelsea FC in the mid-2000s. It never happened, but the move was closer than many think.
The wide-ranging interview takes viewers on Gerrard’s journey from being a local LFC fan, to making his first-team debut as an 18-year-old, to winning cup after cup, to dealing with the Luis Suarez racism case as a veteran leader.
