Liverpool’s Premier League title win this season has helped ‘bury a few demons’ for the club’s former captain Steven Gerrard.
A 30-year wait for the championship to come to Anfield was finally ended last month when Jurgen Klopp’s side clinched the crown with seven games to spare.
It is a moment Gerrard dreamed of during a 17-year stint in the Reds’ first team that featured a number of near misses - most notably in 2014.
That season, Brendan Rodgers’ team saw their charge collapse three games from the finish line as a slip from their ever-reliable skipper resulted in defeat to Chelsea.
But, as a lifelong supporter of the club, Gerrard believes this year’s procession to the title will help him to forget about the pain of that moment.
“First and foremost, for me it was fantastic to bury a few demons, from 2014 it was certainly a big relief,” he told BBC Sound’s ‘Match of the Day: Top 10’ podcast.
“Being a Liverpool fan and ex-player, I’ve known the big, long wait and I’m still in touch with a lot of the players that are in that dressing room so a lot of them shared that pain with me.
“It was fantastic for everyone connected to the club but it was mixed emotions in many ways because of my own experiences, being a fan and ex-player and a lot of my family are Liverpool fans as well.
“To be honest with you, I’m still on a really big high watching all of the TV coverage and seeing all of the emotions flying about.”
Gerrard went on to name to the two players who he believes have made the biggest contribution to turning Liverpool from challengers into title winners.
In Pictures | Liverpool training | 13/07/2020
He continued: “The two main pieces of the jigsaw looking at Liverpool very closely are the keeper (Alisson Becker) and Van Dijk, for obvious reasons.
“I think Liverpool were a good team and exciting team before van Dijk and the keeper came, but they’ve just absolutely turned them into a world-class side and jigsaw is complete with those two, they’re absolutely phenomenal.”
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