Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard rolled back the years for Liverpool against Barcelona

Aston Villa head coach Steven Gerrard has been praised for being 'one of the only players that could still run' after making a goalscoring return to Anfield on Saturday afternoon for Liverpool Legends.

The former Reds captain won what was described as a 'stonewall' penalty in the first half that Gerrard, of course, stepped up to take and sent the visiting Barcelona goalkeeper the wrong way in the process of converting. Despite the 41-year-old's best efforts, though, Liverpool were defeated 2-1 in the charity match.

That result has not diminished the performance put in by the Villa boss, however, with Gerrard singled out as a top performer after skippering the side for the full 90 minutes. It was not the first time that the long-time Liverpool player had returned home, though, having also played in the most recent legends match against AC Milan in 2019.

Our colleagues from the Liverpool Echo write that the Villa boss ran the show against Barcelona in their player ‘ratings’. "The only Liverpool player to last the 90 minutes," they state, "he dictated play as the number 10.

"(The) crowd (were) so excited whenever he got on the ball and one of the few players who can still run. Won a stonewall early penalty off Edmilson before stepping up to score.

"Bent one long-range effort wide before being denied by Jesus Angoy when one-on-one. One long-range effort saved in stoppage-time as it didn’t quite happen in the second half. No Roy of the Rovers Steven Gerrard ending this time."