Steven Gerrard has admitted that the prospect of winning the Premier League title scares him and would be an achievement to match, or even exceeded, the 2005 Champions League win. The Liverpool captain’s desperation for a title win before he finishes his career means he’d even happily offer up half of his body to tattoos if it meant taking home a league winners medal.
“If someone said to me now ‘cover half your body in tattoos and you’ll win the Premier League’ I’d do it tomorrow,” Gerrard said to Sky Sports.
“This is probably my best chance to surprise this country and countries throughout the world to maybe nick the Premier League.
“Sitting here in the middle of January I have a fantastic chance of having a right good crack and getting involved in a title race. I’ve finished second on a couple of occasions but we’ve never come really close.
“If we perform like we have done over the last couple of months we can get involved in the title race so that is very exciting.
“It scares me in a way because I don’t know how I’d handle myself.
“When I won the Champions League (in 2005) the week after that talk about being on cloud nine or over the moon - all the cliches - it was better than that.
“If I could add a Premier League title to my collection it would mean the world to me, it would probably be the best day of my life besides my kids being born.
“I think it would top the Champions League because it is the one I haven’t got.”
While title talk is no longer a taboo subject at Anfield the realism that fourth place would be a major achievement remains.
“I’d take fourth now,” Gerrard said.
“We have been out of the Champions League for so long to have that chance to play a couple of qualifiers against sides you should beat - I’d snap your hand off but I am confident we can finish higher.
“The manager mentions the Champions League, he sets us aims and challenges and of course Champions League is the talk around the place all the time - but that was the case when we didn’t qualify for it.
Liverpool haven’t competed in the Champions League since 2009 and the absence has seen the club slide backwards, a trend which this year it seems might be reversed. For Gerrard the competition is not just a matter for bolstering the club balance sheet, as it is so often portrayed as the most basic motivation for qualification, but the level that he and his teammates need to be playing at.
“For the players it is the ultimate competition to be involved in and you want to compete against the best.
“All the lads who are a lot younger than me at this club need to play and sample it.”
Watch the full interview below
