Gerrard and Carragher's 2006 FA Cup final memories

The Liverpool captain scored two goals and set up another as the game finished 3-3 after extra time before he converted a penalty in the shootout, which his side won 3-1.

He will watch Saturday’s fourth-round tie in Los Angeles but earlier this week he rang JAMIE CARRAGHER to reminisce about that extraordinary day 10 years ago. DOMINIC KING took notes...

CARRAGHER: So this week started with Liverpool getting back to Wembley. Where did you watch the game against Stoke? Have you got any chance of coming over for the game against Manchester City next month? Have you started asking for tickets?!

GERRARD: I was going to ask you! A few of us watched it here at LA Galaxy’s training ground. We’d trained in the morning but managed to see the match before the afternoon session. I won’t be able to come back for the final, though. We’ve got two important games either side of it in our version of the Champions League against Santos Laguna.

CARRAGHER: One final appearance is sorted out (the Capital One Cup). What chance do you think they have got of getting there twice like we did four years ago?

GERRARD: It’s not going to be easy against West Ham, that’s for sure. I actually think Slaven Bilic and West Ham could become a bogey team for Liverpool. They can be devastating on the counter-attack and Liverpool could be vulnerable because of how they like to press. I like Bilic and remember how tough his Croatia sides were to play against for England. He’s given them Croatian flair and they’ve been great to watch. I’d go as far as to say this is the best West Ham team I’ve seen.

CARRAGHER: I think it says everything that West Ham, with Dimitri Payet, will have the best player on the pitch at Anfield. But they couldn’t say that 10 years ago! Would you say that day in Cardiff was your best Liverpool performance?

GERRARD: Over the 90 minutes, yeah, I’d say so.

CARRAGHER: So you set up one, scored two and then slotted a penalty in the shootout — and Rafa (Benitez) said afterwards Momo Sissoko was man of the match!

GERRARD: (laughs) That’s right! To be fair to Momo, he didn’t suffer from the occasion. He wasn’t drained or cramping up at the end of the game like a lot of us.

CARRAGHER: What do you remember about the game? You mention the cramp. That was the worst I ever had it. I was in more pain in the days that followed than I was after Istanbul (2005 Champions League final penalty shootout win). Do you remember we had to meet up with England a week later? I couldn’t run. My legs felt like jelly. It was so different to when we played Arsenal in 2001 (FA Cup final). We’d played West Ham in the Premier League a couple of weeks earlier and beat them 2-1 at Upton Park. Rafa made lots of changes that night but we won easily. Looking back, I don’t think it did us any favours.

GERRARD: There was no pressure on us against Arsenal but for West Ham the pressure was all on us. Before the game, I started to think how I wouldn’t be able to cope if we didn’t get the Cup. With all due respect, it was West Ham. We had the star names. I remember not being able to sleep the night before. When you are a footballer, what people on the outside don’t understand is the fear that grips you about it not going well. It stops you sleeping. It drains you.

CARRAGHER: I played on the left side of defence that day. Rafa was worried about Sami Hyypia’s pace against Marlon Harewood so we switched positions and he went on the right. That’s why I was in the position for the own goal.

GERRARD: To be fair, you finished it well! You didn’t give Pepe (Reina) a chance! But, seriously, it was an absolute disaster for the first 30 minutes. Any big game, you just want to start smoothly and get a feel for the opposition. I felt for you when you scored that own goal. I was thinking ‘imagine if this finishes 1-0 and it’s because of that’. I knew you wouldn’t be able to live with yourself. Then Dean Ashton scores, it’s 2-0, and you really do start fearing the worst.

CARRAGHER: Remember you scored the own goal against Chelsea in the League Cup final in February 2005? I couldn’t get you out of jail but you put your Superman cape on and got me out! That’s what happened!

GERRARD: The (Djibril) Cisse goal just before half-time was massive. He’s a different character but, to be fair, he could score goals. Nobody ever mentions that because of the two I scored, but it turned the game. At 2-1 to West Ham I was thinking, ‘it’s game on’.

CARRAGHER: When you made it 2-2, it looked like we would win easily but then it goes to 3-2 with Paul Konchesky’s cross. Pepe blamed himself for that and he made the mistake for the Ashton goal. I remember saying to either him or you that we still had time to get back. I was gutted we had conceded but, even then, I didn’t think that we would lose.

GERRARD: I was scared at 3-2, I’ll be honest. I remember looking around at some of the other lads and could see they were getting tired and I was tired myself. Can you remember how hot the day was? It was boiling, the pitch was massive and I honestly didn’t think we were going to get back into it. The only hope I got was injury time. I do vividly remember hearing the stadium announcer saying over the Tannoy there were four minutes left. I was happy with that because four minutes is a long time when you are tired. It was good that we got the ball back, wasn’t it?

CARRAGHER: I would still be strangling Lionel Scaloni now if I had been a West Ham player. Oh my God! He tried to be like a nice professional. ‘I’ll kick the ball out, someone is injured’. But he kicks it out right next to where he was! Why didn’t he smash it up the pitch? It’s the last minute! As if we were going to give it back! We did give it back but I was actually closing him down. I told them we were going to throw it to them but the ball was going right to their feet and I was going to close him down. A left-sided centre back pressing on their right back? That’s how mad the game had become!

GERRARD: He should have been more cute and clever but in desperate situations, you just aren’t going to give West Ham the ball back and let them keep it. It was his own fault. Thankfully, the ball came to me eventually. Loads of times in that situation, it doesn’t sit up right, it bounces too high or it goes on your left foot. As a midfielder, when it is set like that, it is an absolute dream. As soon as I’ve seen it falling, I wasn’t thinking of anyone else. I was hitting it.

CARRAGHER: It’s one of the greatest goals in Liverpool’s history, never mind cup finals. What is more bizarre is you wouldn’t expect to see me in the box at that time. When you look at the goal, I was the closest of our players to Shaka Hislop.

GERRARD: I still see the goal I scored against Olympiacos in the Champions League (in December 2004) quite a lot and there you are in the build-up, a right centre half, trying to do Cruyff turns on the left wing! (laughs)

CARRAGHER: What are you laughing at?!

GERRARD: But do you know what? This is what I think players don’t do enough. In situations where you are desperate, you have to do desperate things. You know what I mean?

CARRAGHER: That is what you do on a Sunday league pitch. You don’t do things like that at that level. It is the wrong thing to do 99 per cent of the time. You should play with your head. But then your heart takes over and it is like you are back at school.

GERRARD: That’s right. You play on your emotions. Rafa used to call it an emotional performance.

CARRAGHER: I think Liverpool will see plenty of them under Jurgen Klopp, you know?

GERRARD: Exactly. Liverpool have got one of the most emotional managers in the game now. You’ve met him and you know it isn’t an act, is it? That’s the type of man he is and I actually think he is trying to put emotion back into the team and the supporters. Anyway, after I’d scored I didn’t have anything left in me to celebrate. It then became a question of getting through extra time. You mentioned about cramp before — it felt like my muscles were snapping. But once it got to the penalties I knew we were going to win because of ‘the cat’ (Reina).

CARRAGHER: Do you know what, everyone looks at what happened with Pepe and the second and third West Ham goals but do you remember the save he made in extra time? It was one of the best saves I’ve seen in my life, he was falling backwards but managed to tip a header around the post.

GERRARD: That was one of the best teams we played in, wasn’t it? We were strong, there was that sense of togetherness and we had world-class players. It doesn’t get much better as an English lad to get your hands on that trophy.

CARRAGHER: You know what else sticks in my mind about the day? The after-party. All the trophies we won under Gerard Houllier, the celebration was a meal for the squad at the hotel but this time we flew back to Liverpool and ended up in Alma De Cuba, a bar in the centre of town. It was supposed to be a private party for the club but when we got in, every Scouser we knew was in there! A good time was had by all!

Source: Daily Mail

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