Wednesday, 1st October, 2014
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers believes Steven Gerrard will play a key part in the club's Champions League clash at Basel tonight, with his team-mates looking up to their captain because of his calm and experienced demeanour.
It is not the first time Gerrard will play against the Swiss Super League champions, with the 34-year-old featuring in their encounter twelve years ago when the Reds trailed by three goals at half-time and were denied knockout round qualification despite the match finishing 3-3.
With 82 Champions League games and the trophy itself now under his belt however, Rodgers believes the skipper's experience and ability to hold his nerve will inspire the rest of the team to go away with three points.
"The players look at how calm Stevie is and they know he has been at the level before and gone right the way through and won the tournament", Rodgers told a press conference last night.
"They can draw inspiration from that. He is calm, whether it is a Champions League game or a league game. His focus is very much the same.
"Even on Wednesday night, when the atmosphere is good and you need that calm head and someone to dictate the tempo of a game, there are not many better than him in world football."
relatedNewsStory
Although Basel lost their first group game 5-1 against holders Real Madrid, the club have a strong record against English sides recently, winning 2-1 and 1-0 against Chelsea in the Champions League last year.
Paulo Sousa's men are third favourites at 81.00 (80/1) to qualify from their group, whilst Liverpool are 2.15 (23/20) to snatch their second win after beating Ludogorets Razgrad 2-1 two weeks ago.
Don't bet on football until you've visited Inside Bet! Interesting markets, top tips, betting facts – get all the info before you bet.
