Gone in 38 seconds – Steven Gerrard relives that horror tackle against Ander Herrera.
The former Liverpool captain went into detail about that infamous clash with Manchester United in his book, which is being serialised by The Daily Mail.
Gerrard explained that Liverpool had been somewhat meek against the Red Devils in the first half, and he intended to rectify after coming on as, in his word, “tackling and collisions mattered against Manchester United.”
“The game restarted, I went in hard with a fair, but slamming tackle on Juan Mata. I cleaned out Mata, who went flying, and I won the ball.”
After cleaning Mata out of it, Gerrard then set his sights on Herrera, which ultimately led to his sending off.
“I was involved again, immediately, as Ander Herrera came hurtling towards me to shut down space. I was too quick for him.”
“I completed a simple pass as Herrera came flying in with his sliding tackle. His right leg stretched out invitingly on the Anfield turf. I couldn’t stop myself. Without even giving myself time to think I brought my left foot stamping down on Herrera. I felt my studs sink into his flesh just above the ankle. It had to have hurt him.”
He admitted that he knew his pleas to the referee after the foul would be in vain.
“Herrera clutched his ankle and writhed around on the ground. I raised my arm above my head and gestured angrily. I was trying to deflect attention away from me. I knew I was in trouble. But I’m still a footballer and so I pointed at myself, almost in self-defence, as if to say:
‘What? Me?’
‘Yes, you,’ referee Martin Atkinson’s walk said. I didn’t like the look of his walk. I didn’t like the look of his face.
Wayne Rooney was close by. Wayne looked at me. He knew I was gone.
Gerrard added that he was incredibly disappointed himself after the ludicrously short cameo for his club in such a big match.
As I left the pitch I asked myself: ‘What have you just done? Are you f****** stupid?’
“It had taken me just 38 seconds to get myself sent off against Manchester United. Thirty-eight seconds in which I had been at the heart of every small cameo of action and ferocious display of rage. It had been, in the end, 38 seconds defined by anger and a kind of madness.”
Liverpool lost the game 2-1.
