The former Liverpool and England captain made a total of 710 appearances for Liverpool and 114 for England, winning 9 trophies.
Steven Gerrard’s winner for Liverpool vs Olympiakos
In an interview with ‘Galaxy TV’ yesterday, Steven Gerrard was asked who was his “favourite player as a kid”.
The three-time League Cup winning midfielder named Zinedine Zidane as his favourite player at a young age, adding “He was the best player in the world.”
It is not the first time Gerrard has spoken highly of the 1998 Ballon d’Or winning legend of the game, with Gerrard describing him as his footballing idol earlier this year, alongside the likes of John Barnes and Ian Rush.
Zinedine Zidane scoring a free kick against England at Euro 2004 with Gerrard in the wall
The current Real Madrid manager has paid particular compliments back to Gerrard in the past too, claiming he was probably the best player in the world, ahead of Messi or Ronaldo, back in 2009.
The two have long been fans of each others games, and Zidane is even reported to have tried to encourage chiefs at Real Madrid to bring Gerrard to the Bernanbeu from Liverpool.
Talking yesterday, Gerrard went on to claim “I used to always try and copy him in the street when I was practicing.”
Gerrard’s idol Zinedine Zidane is now the Real Madrid manager
It is not difficult to see why Gerrard idolised Zidane. The Frenchman was one of the most elegant footballers to ever play the game, and had enormous success as a player.
In the 2004 UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll, the former Juventus and Bordeaux midfielder even managed to finish ahead of Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer to be named the best European footballer of the past 50 years.
The only element that may surprise people is the age gap. Ex-Liverpool captain Gerrard is only 8 years younger than Zidane and their careers overlapped by 8 years too.
The Liverpool legend now plays his club football in the US with LA Galaxy
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