RIYADH: Roshn Saudi League side Al-Ettifaq’s manager Steven Gerrard has called on young players dreaming of a football career to “dream big, picture a dream and then work as hard as you can every day to improve.”
The ex-Liverpool legend, in an exclusive interview with the RSL, advised young footballers to “listen to the right people and every day be extremely motivated and dedicated to reach your dream.”
Gerrard, 43, shared his views on Thursday on various aspects of his life and career, giving his opinions on alternative careers, advice for young players, family life, and his views on leadership.
Opening up about other potential career paths outside football management, the former Liverpool captain said: “I’m very much into sport so I would have tried to have stayed in some sport in some capacity and tried to get a job related to football, or maybe related to a different sport. Growing up, all I wanted to do was watch sport on TV, do sport at school, so I’m very sport orientated.
“I think football is about dreams and memories and experiences, so my advice to (youngsters) is set a dream, set a target and then every single day maximize the opportunities to get better, to learn and to grow and to improve your skills, and reach for the stars.”
Gerrard also spoke about his family life, and said: “When I am not at work or at football, I am very much family orientated.
“I have three daughters and one son, so I am always taking them to different places; always playing football in the garden with my son or taking him to football.
“I am probably a taxi or an Uber driver a lot of the time, taking them to school and picking them up from school. I also help with doing homework and if I get a small bit of time to myself, I like to spend it with my friends.”
Having spent his life in football, Gerrard has had the perfect opportunity to see the top world stars firsthand, and he recalls his favorite three players with ease.
He said: “I would pick Zinedine Zidane (as top player) because he was my hero growing up. In my generation, he was the best midfielder in the world, so I’d pick Zidane and also the two others in my generation were Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. They would be the three I’d pick.”
And how would Gerrard himself like to be remembered? He said: “I want to be remembered as someone who gave everything in terms of 100 percent every single day.
“I was loyal, I was a fighter. I wanted to give all my energy and my efforts for the team that I represented and I was a team player, so I want to be remembered for those values.”
Gerrard’s Al-Ettifaq currently sit in seventh place in the RSL and face Al-Raed in their next fixture on April 27.

NEW DELHI: New Delhi said on Thursday it does not attach any value to a US State Department report critical of human rights in India, and called it deeply biased.

The annual human rights assessment released earlier this week found “significant” abuses in India’s northeastern Manipur state last year and attacks on minorities, journalists and dissenting voices in the rest of the country.

Asked about it, Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jasiwal told journalists on Thursday that the report “as per our understanding, is deeply biased and reflects a very poor understanding of India.”

“We attach no value to it and urge you to also do the same,” Jaiswal said.

Responding to a question about the growing protests on US university campuses against Israel’s offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 33,000 people, Jaiswal said that “there has to be the right balance between freedom of expression, sense of responsibility and public safety and order.”

He added that “democracies in particular should display this understanding in regard to other fellow democracies, after all we are all judged by what we do at home and not what we say abroad.”

While India and the US have a tight partnership, and Washington wants New Delhi to be a strategic counterweight to China, the relationship has encountered some minor bumps recently.

In March New Delhi dismissed US concerns over the implementation of a contentious Indian citizenship law, calling them “misplaced” and “unwarranted,” and objected to a US State Department official’s remarks over the arrest of a key opposition leader.

Last year Washington accused Indian agents of being involved in a failed assassination plot against a Sikh separatist leader in the US, and warned New Delhi about it.

India has said it has launched an investigation into Washington’s accusations but there has not been any update about the investigation’s status or findings.