Zinedine Zidane explains why he holds Steven Gerrard in such high esteem

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Footballing icon Zinedine Zidane has lavished praise on our outgoing captain Steven Gerrard this week. Our midfield favourite plays his final game in a Liverpool shirt on Sunday and Zidane reckons he’s going to be sorely missed.

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Zidane and Gerrard only played against each other once, during a match between France and England at Euro 2004, although that didn’t prevent his attempts to convince Real Madrid to sign our skipper during his pomp.

In fact, Zidane’s admiration for Gerrard has stretched far enough for him to pay our hero the ultimate compliment. According to the 1998 World Cup winner, our No. 8 is just like him – on and off the field.

In quotes reported by our official website, he says: “He’s a player that I really thought a lot of, I had a lot of time for him and rated him. I can’t say that about everyone. Why did I like him so much? Perhaps there was something about him that reminded me a little bit of myself.

“He made a lot of noise out there on the field but was quiet off it, meaning that he was someone down to earth and grounded away from the game who just said what needed to be said. He preferred to do his talking on the field, using his voice, his combative spirit and above all his ability on the ball that could make the difference in a game.”

It was an emotional roller-coaster last weekend, as the Kop said a tearful goodbye to Gerrard during his final home game as a Liverpool player. Now, with just one game remaining before his move to LA Galaxy, we have to selfishly hope that this legendary figure can give us one last gem of inspiration to remember him by.

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