Steven Gerrard has poked fun at his former Liverpool team-mate Xabi Alonso after footage showed the Bayer Leverkusen boss hitting the crossbar from a free kick ahead of the Europa League final.
A clip was posted on the Europa League accounts ahead of the showpiece in Dublin, which saw Alonso’s Leverkusen side face Atalanta.
The former Spain, Liverpool and Real Madrid star briefly returned to his playing days by lining up a free kick from outside the box, minus a wall.
Alonso attempted to curl the ball into the top right hand corner of the net, but the 42-year-old saw his effort hit the frame of the goal before bouncing away.
The Leverkusen boss turned away in frustration, while the attempt prompted a joke from his former Liverpool team-mate Gerrard.
‘That’s why I used to take them,’ quipped Gerrard, the now manager of Saudi Pro League club Al-Ettifaq, on Instagram.
Despite Gerrard’s joke, Alonso had enjoyed success from dead ball situations during his time at Anfield between 2004 and 2009.
Alonso had opened his account for Liverpool with a curling free kick against Fulham in 2004.
The Spaniard scored two further free kicks for the club before departing for Real Madrid, having scored 18 goals for Liverpool in total.
Gerrard, however, had largely remained Liverpool’s free kick taker during his legendary career with the club.
The former club captain scored 10 in total for the Reds.
The Europa League final itself would prove a more frustrating occasion for Alonso, with Leverkusen undone by an inspired performance from Ademola Lookman.
Lookman scored a superb hat-trick as Atalanta earned a 3-0 win to win the Europa League.
The resulted ended Leverkusen’s 51-game unbeaten run, extinguishing their hopes of a treble having already won the Bundesliga.
‘For me, the result today does not change one bit how I feel about my players or what we have been doing,’ Alonso told the BBC post match.
‘It hurts because we wanted to lift the trophy but you can’t have everything. We lifted the Bundesliga and we have the chance to lift the DFB Pokal on Saturday.’
Alonso’s side will aim to bounce back from the painful defeat in the German Cup final.
