Steven Gerrard has admitted that being left on the bench for the Champions League trip to Real Madrid made him think that he should end his career with Liverpool.
The former Reds captain was named among the substitutes for the clash in November, and only played the final 20 minutes as Liverpool lost 1-0 at Santiago Bernabeu.
Gerrard has said that the decision to start him on the bench signalled the end of his 17-year career with his boyhood club.
"This was round about the time when I was doing a lot of thinking about what's next for me because I'd had a couple of initial chats with Brendan saying to me, 'I'm going to start managing your games and I have to look after you and I want you to be fresh and I don't want you to be playing three games in a week because you may be tired' and stuff like that," the 35-year-old told BT Sport.
"But this situation was a bit unique because it was Real Madrid and I wanted to play.
"I sat on that bench devastated because I wanted to play, so it is one of those situations. It sort of pushed me into making a decision to move on and try something different."
Gerrard has left Anfield to join Los Angeles Galaxy.
Steven Toplis
