Top 5 greatest Champions League player seasons ever

#1 Steven Gerrard (2004/05)

Liverpool were 3-0 down at half time, but miraculously ended up winning the game on penalties.

Coming in at number one is Steven Gerrard's mythical 2004/05 season which saw Liverpool win their 5th Champions League trophy.

In many ways, Gerrard is the most underrated player of the 21st century. Despite having the passing qualities of Xavi and Iniesta, the scoring prowess of Frank Lampard, the defensive abilities of Makelele, and leadership skills par excellence, he is strangely overlooked as a player.

This is undoubtedly in large to do with him playing at Liverpool during the majority of his career, during a time where they were nowhere near the other top sides in the world.

Despite having offers to play for Manchester United, Real Madrid, Chelsea, AC Milan, and more, Steven Gerrard stayed at a lesser Liverpool side out of devotion and loyalty. The implications of this are two-fold, firstly it meant he was never afforded the world class squads that the likes of Ronaldo, Messi, and all the players previously mentioned had, and secondly it meant he didn't win as many trophies as he could have.

Because many pundits and commentators look at titles as defining factors of a player's career, many have overlooked Steven Gerrard's virtually peerless ability as an all-round midfielder.

His 2004/05 Champions League campaign proved exactly this point, where Gerrard led an average Liverpool side to the Champions League title, beating a number of world class teams in the process. From scoring a last-minute screamer against Olympiakos to see them qualify for the knockouts, to being the center piece of Liverpool's team and an incomparable leader, Gerrard proved how good he was.

As a center midfielder, he was never going to score 10+ goals like Ronaldo or Messi, what he provided was something else, that is often overlooked in the current game.

In addition, Gerrard's role in the final, which saw Liverpool overturn a 3-0 deficit to win the match, was arguably the greatest ever, with him playing tirelessly in virtually every position on the pitch to ensure his team would win.

Due to the quality of opponents Liverpool defeated, the lack of quality in their own team, and the impact Gerrard had in dragging them to the title, this has to go down as the greatest player season in the Champions League's history.