Gerrard: Our spirit won us the Cup
Steven Gerrard has paid tribute to his Liverpool team-mates for somehow finding the energy to win this season's FA Cup.
The Reds' inspirational skipper admitted he had "absolutely nothing left" during extra time as a 62 game season eventually caught up with the Reds in Cardiff.
It was Gerrard's heroics which kept Liverpool's Cup dreams alive with a stunning goal late in normal time, but he admits he didn't think he'd have the energy left to connect as sweetly as he did with his right foot.
"Just before my second goal I had taken a free-kick and it nearly went out of the stadium, my legs were so weary, so I don't quite know where I got the energy from.
"I must admit I was absolutely delighted to hit the next shot like that. I didn't mean to put it exactly there but knew I had to get good contact to make sure it would hit the target and I caught it really sweetly.
"It was a great moment when it went in, and I don't know how I did it. I just concentrated on giving everything to the shot.
"I didn't hear the stadium announcer say how much extra was being added, but I knew there wasn't long left and it was really hard - I was all over the place. In fact, in extra time I just didn't want the ball. I just kept looking at the clock and wanting it to run out. I had absolutely nothing left.
"We basically finished the game with about five men! People were going down with cramp all over the place, we'd put so much effort in.
"The players were so brave because there were quite a few who would have come off if we had any subs left. We have a great team spirit here and we needed it to win that Cup.
"When it got to penalties we knew Pepe Reina would do it for us, and we just had to find five to take ours.
"The manager asked me if I wanted to take a penalty and I asked if I could have the first. He told me, 'No, you're having the third'.
"I just thought that I had to get up and hit it as hard as I could, and fortunately I found the corner. But once we got to penalties we had faith in Pepe.
"When he made that save in extra time I thought that maybe it was going to be our day after all. He didn't play that well early on, but he didn't half make up for it! With his penalty record we were always confident when it came down to that.
"We are always having competitions in training and having a go at him. And we know how difficult it is to beat him. He is so agile."