Liverpool's greatest PL goal: The case for Steven Gerrard
There could be no debate about Liverpool's greatest Premier League goal without Steven Gerrard.
Of the legendary former captain’s 120 in the top flight for the Reds, 24 were shortlisted in the daily votes for each of the past 25 seasons which have reduced the candidates to a final five of exquisite quality.
His contender comes from the 2004-05 campaign, Rafael Benitez’s first at the helm and one in which the team’s fairytale run to Champions League success – rather than their inconsistent Premier League form – naturally took centre stage.
The strike itself is unforgettable, though.
Seven minutes into the second half of a late-season meeting with Middlesbrough, the skipper neatly controlled a pass forward on his chest and in one swift motion walloped a shot into the far top corner from a distance you would be forgiven for describing inaccurately as ‘miles out’.
It seemed to be rising, elegantly along its destined path, even as it met the net.
Such was the brilliance of the effort, it eased to victory in the poll for that season ahead of Neil Mellor’s last-minute arrow against Arsenal and then defeated stunning hits by Xabi Alonso and Dietmar Hamann in its weekly decider.
It’s true that the iconic midfielder scored more remarkable goals of greater importance in his hefty tally of 186 for the club, and they come to mind so quickly when you think of Gerrard.
The piledriver against Olympiacos which kept Liverpool on course for Champions League glory, his game-changing header in that 2005 final, and the outrageously ambitious equaliser in the last minute of the FA Cup showpiece with West Ham United a year later. To name only three.
In comparison, this particular goal meant less to the team.
But in many ways it encapsulates Gerrard as perfectly as those aforementioned wonder strikes – standing as a permanent, flawless exhibit of the raw natural ability and supreme confidence he was not just harnessing but mastering at that stage of his career.
The move begins with a sound but somewhat hopeful diagonal pass from John Arne Riise, sent from a left-sided position in his own half across to the right channel.
A long way from goal when he shapes to take control of the delivery, the manner of Gerrard’s first touch perhaps helps to plant the first suggestion in his mind that he could try his luck from distance.
Perhaps he had already decided.
Either way, as he opens up his body to get full sight of the target – defended by future Reds goalkeeper Brad Jones – and uses his chest to slightly steady the ball again, everything is suddenly set up.
And then the ball is soaring into the air, smacked off the laces of the Scouser’s right boot, sent hurtling in the direction of the top left corner with the kind of precision that only a genius can intentionally summon.
It’s a home run.
Jones’ dive is genuine but resigned to failure. Replays show just how high above the Australian the shot travels as it arcs home, its trajectory threatening full take-off were the net not in the way.
And when the cameras cut away to Gerrard, his celebration tells you everything.
He has just scored Liverpool’s greatest Premier League goal.