Remembering Steven Gerrard's Incredible Performance In The 2006 FA Cup Final

By Mike Parrott

With the FA Cup final taking place today, we looked back at one of the most incredible individual performances in an FA Cup final, Steven Gerrard for Liverpool against West Ham United in the 2006 FA Cup final.

With it being the special day, we looked back at some of the great finals and individual performances in FA Cup finals throughout history.

Liverpool and West Ham played out a thrilling 3-3 draw at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. With Liverpool seeing themselves 2-0 down in the first 30 minutes due to an own-goal from Jamie Carragher and a goal from Dean Ashton, Liverpool already looked out of it.

A goal from Djibril Cissé and Gerrard's first pulled Liverpool back into it but with Paul Konchesky putting West Ham up again, Liverpool entered stoppage time down a goal.

However, the Liverpool captain took an unthinkable shot from 35 yards out in the first minute of stoppage time. The shot was impossible to save with Gerrard saving Liverpool from the brink of losing and taking them into penalties where Liverpool won 3-1 from the spot.

The Man of the Match interview pitchside after the game revealed to us that Gerrard saw this final as hard as their famous 3-3 win against AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League final in Istanbul the year prior.

"It was just as difficult as Istanbul," the Liverpool captain said. "Credit to West Ham, fantastic team, really dangerous on the counter-attack."

"We just stuck in there and knew if it went to penalties we'd have a fantastic chance with [Pepe] Reina in goal."

What do you think were the best FA Cup finals in history?

Let us know in the comments below.