"Madrid wanted me to cause a war at Liverpool to get out"

The former Liverpool player confessed that there was more than one attempt by Madrid to swoop him in. This is what he confessed to the podcast 'The Greatest Game'.

One of them was in 2009, after Liverpool's 4-0 win over Madrid that left them out of the Champions League: "Madrid wanted me to cause a war at Liverpool to get out" said Gerrard.

The Reds' legend considers believes forcing his exit would have been his only option: "It was the only way I could have left Liverpool..." he continued.

Jamie Carragher, who leads the podcast, also reminded him of the moment when Raul, then Real Madrid captain, asked Gerrard if he would join the Spanish team. "I’m not sure if it was a full tapping but there was some kind of little… There was a little bit of flirtation. It wasn’t major," Gerrard explained.

Gerrard, now Rangers coach, revealed that Mourinho also tried to sign him for Chelsea, although he would have preferred to play with the team that the Portuguese when he was in Spain: "I'I think if all the Chelsea stuff didn’t happen and Mourinho, when he came for me around 2010, maybe a year or two, you look back and think 'imagine playing for Madrid for a year or two, imagine playing for Mourinho in the Champions League with Madrid, unbelievable experience' but it didn’t happen."