LFC legends
Reds Legends win at Ibrox
Steven Gerrard turned out for both Liverpool FC Legends and Rangers Legends as a crowd of over 30,000 saw the Reds stars of yesteryear triumph 3-2 at Ibrox.
The former LFC skipper turned Rangers FC manager played for 70 minutes in a red shirt before coming back on for the final 10 minutes in a Rangers FC strip. By then he'd played a major part in creating two of the Reds' three goals with Luis Garcia, Patrik Berger and Emile Heskey all on the scoresheet in Glasgow.
Gerrard was jokingly booed by the Rangers FC fans when he fired in the first shot of the game, but it was his old mate Jamie Carragher who was involved in the first major incident when he tripped Kris Boyd in the penalty area. Penalty. Jerzy Dudek danced on the goal line and, just like in Istanbul 14 years ago, his distraction tactics worked as Boyd dragged his spot-kick wide of the post.
Shortly afterwards Liverpool FC Legends took the lead. There were nine minutes on the clock when Jermaine Pennant found Dirk Kuyt in the penalty area and his chipped cross to the far post was met by a diving header from Luis Garcia. 1-0.
A lightening quick – well quick-ish, given the age of some of the legs out there – counter-attack led to Liverpool FC's second in the 17th minute. Kuyt brought the ball out from the edge of the Reds' box and all of a sudden Gerrard was bursting through midfield with LFC having a 6v4 advantage in the Rangers Legends half.
Gerrard skipped past a flying Richard Gough challenge before, as two other defenders approached, sliding a pass to Luis Garcia. The Spaniard opted to pull the ball back, rather than shoot, and it was met by Berger's left foot. Rangers Legends keeper Neil Alexander got a touch, but couldn't keep the Czech midfielder's shot out.
Alex McLeish's side pulled one back eight minutes later. Lee McCulloch, who is on Gerrard's coaching staff at Ibrox, found Boyd and this time the Rangers Legends' no.9 was able to beat Dudek.
Gerrard, however, was in rampaging form and in the 27th minute his clever reverse pass released Emile Heskey in the box. The Liverpool FC Legends striker neatly chipped the ball over the diving Alexander before dusting off his famous 'DJ' celebration to mark the Reds' 3-1 lead.
The Light Blues were back in the game just a minute later when Glen Johnson mis-controlled a header back across goal and Peter Lovenkrands pounced to reduce the deficit.
Only the crossbar prevented Gerrard – who played for Liverpool FC against Rangers FC at Ibrox in a 4-0 pre-season friendly win in 2008 – from making it 4-2 from close range and in the second half both the Reds skipper and Luis Garcia were denied by Alexander.
Gregory Vignal, who now manages Rangers Women, was one of the substitutes brought on by Liverpool FC Legends manager Ian Rush in the second half. The French full-back also had a shot saved by Alexander before the Gers almost nicked an 89th minute equaliser when Alex Rae clipped the crossbar with a long-range effort.
It was Rangers FC boss and Liverpool FC Legend Gerrard who received the biggest cheers of the afternoon from both sets of supporters, though, and he admitted he'd enjoyed getting his boots on again.
“I miss playing, I miss being a player and I miss being in the dressing-room,” he told Rangers.co.uk. “I miss the comradery and I miss competing so to get the chance to do it again in front of a packed Ibrox, on a wonderful surface and in an iconic stadium, I was never turning that down.
“I am never going to change the way I play. When I was a player I liked to try and entertain the fans and try to provide service for the front players and that is the way I tried to play today.”
It was also an emotional afternoon for former Liverpool FC left-back Jose Enrique who was able to play after recovering from life-saving surgery to remove a brain tumour in 2018.
“A year ago I had a tumour in my head, I thought I was dying, and now I’m playing here in front of 30,000 people. I can be grateful and happy to be part of this,” he told Liverpoolfc.com.
“It’s amazing. It has been a very difficult time, probably the most difficult time of my life. To wear this shirt again, it’s my club – I feel like this is my club – and to play 90 minutes again with this team is amazing.”
A donation from the fixture will now be made to the LFC Foundation, Liverpool FC's official charity, which delivers a range of partnerships and programmes to create life-changing opportunities for children and young people across the city and beyond.
