Tuesday 6 January 2015 10:30, UK
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers believes an FA Cup birthday present would be the perfect send-off for Steven Gerrard.
Gerrard's brace rescued Liverpool from a potentially sticky situation against AFC Wimbledon, a header and a free-kick securing a 2-1 third-round victory at Kingsmeadow on Monday night.
The 34-year-old showed just what Liverpool will miss next season in his first game since confirming he will leave his boyhood club in the summer.
And Rodgers backed the Reds to chase FA Cup glory in his honour, with the May 30 final the same day the Anfield skipper turns 35.
"Well the FA Cup final is on his birthday, so there would be no better way for us to mark it – that would be a wonderful send-off for him," said Rodgers.
"Okay, he might be getting a bit older but he'll always have that world-class ability and world-class talent.
"There are a lot of games to play but we've targeted a cup victory this season, so we're still very much in line for that moving into the second part of the season.
"The team's still very focused and we played some really good football tonight on a really good pitch. So the idea is to get a cup run, and if we can do it that would be really special of course."
Rodgers refused to accept that Gerrard's enduring influence puts more the pressure on the club to find a future talisman.
"We play as a team, we win as a team and we lose as a team," said Rodgers. "It's very much a collective.
"I've never asked anyone to do any more than anyone else. You have of course your quality players, I've always said nothing's changed that.
"But of course it's up to us as a club, we need to ensure we keep working and producing top-class players.
"Steven was outstanding in the game, a brilliant individual performance from him and a real catalyst for us.
"If he was a real selfish player he might have stayed on the ball and got himself a hat-trick as well, but he was still trying to create opportunities for other players."
Wimbledon manager Neil Ardley admitted Gerrard proved the difference.
"We got outdone by a world-class player in the end," said Ardley. "The headline was written for him after the week he's just had.
"I didn't want to be part of anything that positive for him, but our players have still done us proud, but there's that element of disappointment in me at the moment.
"It's difficult for somebody who's been the talisman for a club for so long to think that he may be in and out and rested at times in another season.
"That's obviously been the bearing on his decision, he obviously wants to go out at Liverpool on a high, still playing brilliantly like he did tonight.
"I'm sure there will be a very emotional last game for him at Anfield in the future, but he deserves it, it's very rare to have a player who spends that amount of time at one club."
