After 16 years, 683 games, 176 goals, nine trophies, perhaps the most remarkable Uefa Champions League final of all, and myriad disappointments, there is little Steven Gerrard has not experienced as a Liverpool player.
Yet even by his exalted standards, the last week or so qualifies as exceptional.
It began with the captain affirming his determination to play on and, as his contract expires next summer, implying he may have to leave Liverpool.
Then followed overblown suggestions he could join Manchester City (which he will not) and Brendan Rodgers’ insistence he will stay at Anfield (which is almost certain).
After Gerrard was Liverpool’s finest player in a wretched 1-0 defeat at Newcastle United last Saturday, he was denied a first, and almost certainly last, start in club colours at the Bernabeu when he was rested against Real Madrid.
He was warmly applauded onto the pitch as a substitute, offering an indication of his enduring standing in the global game.
Next, on Saturday, it is Chelsea.
That Gerrard’s career has encompassed nearly everything is intrinsically linked to Chelsea as it is the Premier League title that has eluded him.
It was within Liverpool’s grasp when Chelsea last visited Anfield in April.
Rodgers’ side had reeled off 11 successive victories and three more would render them champions for the first time since 1990.
Then, infamously, Gerrard slipped or, to be precise, his touch let him down and then he slipped.
As the chant he hears every week, and not just from Chelsea fans, goes, he gave the ball to Chelsea forward Demba Ba.
Ba ran through to score the opening goal and Chelsea went on to win 2-0.
It was far from the only reason Liverpool did not win the title as they missed out to Manchester City, but it is the one that tends to be cited to the exclusion of all others.
So, the, arguably, greatest player in Liverpool’s glorious history is surely the Premier League’s finest to have never won the division.
As both a man with a brooding, introspective side and one with an acute sense of responsibility, Gerrard will recognise the significance of his slip.
It is hard to imagine him banishing it from his memory.
Given his status, he is invariably under scrutiny, which is exacerbated when Chelsea return to Anfield and more so given the events of recent days.
For Gerrard every week brings an examination.
The decision in January by Rodgers to recast his captain as a holding midfielder was a startling success at first.
Then opponents started to counter it, looking to limit the time Liverpool’s quarterback had to spray passes around and aiming to use mobile runners to break into the space either side of him.
Given Oscar’s prowess as a tackling No 10 and Jose Mourinho’s tactical acumen and it would be no surprise if Chelsea looked to target Gerrard.
At 34, he can be reliant on teammates with younger legs.
Yet while Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson both boast formidable engines, Liverpool’s attacking tactics can expose their captain.
Nor, at times, has Rodgers helped Gerrard, who is more comfortable in a midfield trio than a duo.
As the Newcastle game illustrated, with Daniel Sturridge injured and Raheem Sterling out of sorts, he still qualifies as Liverpool’s best player, but he is not a conventional defensive midfielder.
His passing range, set-piece expertise and capacity to make a difference remain, even as his dynamism has been diminished by time.
Not that admiration for Gerrard meets with universal approval. The sense of schadenfreude after his error against Chelsea was depressingly predictable.
Along with the choruses from the terraces this season, it contained a personal element, rather than merely suggesting a pleasure Liverpool had not succeeded.
There has been a rush to suggest Gerrard is finished this season, too, which rather ignores the fact that some were voicing similar sentiments this time last year whereas, between January this year and the Chelsea game, he was the Premier League’s most formidable force.
Writing Gerrard off can be wishful thinking but his eminence was recognised by Real Madrid’s fans.
They do not grant that kind of tribute to many others.
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