The stage is set for you to go and make heroes of yourselves - that is the message Steven Gerrard has delivered to his teammates ahead of tonight's Anfield showdown against Zenit St Petersburg.

The captain knows overturning a 2-0 deficit from the first leg will be tough against the Russian champions but he insists it's not impossible.

Gerrard believes that with the right balance of discipline and bravery, the game against Zenit can join the long list of memorable European nights at Anfield.

"It's going to be a chance for someone to step up," he told Liverpoolfc.com.

"The stage is set. We're 2-0 down. The fans are going to be right up for it. It's going to be a great night, hopefully.

"The opportunity is there for anyone to go and make a name for themselves.

"These are the games that the fans remember for many, many years. If you turn results like this one around and people score important goals, those moments will be remembered forever."

Zenit are back-to-back winners of the Russian Premier League and dropped out of this year's Champions League at the group stage after finishing third behind Malaga and AC Milan.

In September they spent heavily, recruiting talents like Axel Witsel and Hulk to complement the already dangerous Roman Shirokov, Danny and Aleksandr Kerzhakov amongst others.

"It's going to be tough, there's no doubt about it," said Gerrard. "The result we got in the first leg wasn't what we wanted and the idea was to nick an away goal but after 60 minutes that totally backfired.

"But when you're playing against opposition like Zenit, who have got Champions League experience, then you need to do that for the full 90 minutes.

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"They have got individuals in their team that can hurt us, as they showed in the last half an hour of the game last week. It's a tough test for us but it's not impossible.

"We had a tough week last week, getting beat by West Brom and Zenit and we needed to get a reaction against Swansea. We got the perfect response - a clean sheet and a good performance.

"But with all due respect to Swansea, Zenit are a little bit better than them. So we need to improve on the Swansea performance and look for a similar outcome."

Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge were both on the mark when Liverpool swept the Swans aside at Anfield on Sunday - but the pair will both be unavailable for selection against Zenit, as will Fabio Borini.

And when asked if he felt there was more pressure on him to get amongst the goals, the skipper was insistent: "The onus is on me, the onus is on Luis Suarez and the onus is on the rest of the payers.

"We need to share the responsibility among us all. The players who are missing did well for us in the week. But this team is not just about one or two individuals.

"We've shown on numerous occasions throughout the season that if everyone clicks at the right time, we can perform well, keep a clean sheet and score a lot of goals. That's what we need. We need at least eight or nine to be right on top of their game to get us the result."

While the skipper knows a passionate Anfield atmosphere will fire the home side, he's acutely aware of the importance of striking a balance between defence and attack.

"It's important that we are not stupid and that we don't go gung-ho too early," said Gerrard. "We have to show a level of patience.

"We have to believe in ourselves, we've got enough time to get the goals we need - they don't need to come in the first few minutes. When the crowd are up for it and are pushing us on from the first minute, that's where the experienced players are vital to make sure the team does not go too gung-ho too early.

"One mistake and it's virtually impossible."