Steven Gerrard is very much Mr. Liverpool. Though he now takes charge of Aston Villa as manager, his illustrious playing career is intertwined with the fabric of the Reds recent history.
Istanbul in 2005, the FA Cup final heroics a year later - yet there is a glaring hole in his honours list where many would expect a Premier League winners' medal would be for a player of Gerrard's calibre. The truth is that his failure to ever lift a league title undeniably remains a blemish on an otherwise stellar career.
He did come close, incredibly close in fact during the 2013/14 season while Liverpool were under the guidance of Brendan Rodgers and spearheaded by an in-form Luis Suarez who led the line. Talent such as Raheem Sterling and Phillipe Coutinho also aided the effort, for the first time in a long-time the Reds looked like a title-winning outfit.
A 3-2 win over title rivals Manchester City on April 13 cemented Liverpool's status as favourites to lift what had proved to be an elusive league title. The full-force of the Kop could be felt at full-time as Gerrard rallied his teammates with an inspired post-match speech.
"This does not f***ing slip now! This does not f****ing slip! Listen: we go to Norwich, exactly the same! We go again!", unbeknownst to him at the time, this motivational message would go on to haunt Gerrard for the rest of his days.
Exactly two weeks later, having dispatched of Norwich to extend their lead at the top to five points, Liverpool welcomed Jose Mourinho's Chelsea to Anfield. What followed remains one of the most iconic moments in Premier League history.
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Having received the ball inside his own half, Gerrard literally slipped while in possession and inadvertently allowed Demba Ba a free run at goal. The striker made no mistake and converted beyond the onrushing Simon Mignolet on the cusp of half-time.
It gave the Reds a mountain to climb in the second-half and they duly failed, allowing Willian to double the visitors advantage late on and blow the title race wide open. Gerrard later admitted his emotions got the better of him as he made his way home.
"I sat in the back of the car and felt the tears rolling down my face. I hadn’t cried for years but, on the way home, I couldn’t stop," he wrote in his autobiography. "The tears kept coming. I can’t even tell you if the streets were thick with traffic or as empty as I was on the inside. It was killing me.
"Instead of hitting a long cross-field pass to set up a goal, making a decisive tackle or curling the ball into the back of the Chelsea goal to seal our victory, I had fallen over."
Another capitulation at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace all but ended Liverpool hopes of winning the league, allowing City to come in swoop for a second title in three seasons under the stewardship of Manuel Pellegrini and the rest is history.
Speaking to former teammate Jamie Carragher in 2020 six years after the dust had settled and just before Liverpool did eventually get their hands on the Premier League, Gerrard opened up on the impact the slip had on his mental state.
"I think about it most days, a Liverpool team winning the league would help how I feel for sure," he told Carragher's The Greatest Game podcast. "People say to me to make me feel better: 'It was over 28 games', but I still know behind what you’re saying to me that moment was so big.
"Brendan said recently that Jordan Henderson’s suspension killed us and it did…an own goal that Kolo Toure scored when we were winning at West Brom and drew the game and lost two points.
"All little things like that during the season, but it wasn’t at that time, that moment against that team, so that’s still behind all those people trying to soften it up for me."
