Energetic and inspiring Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard revealed his source of inspirations by naming legendary Zinedine Zidane, and former England international Paul Gascoigne as two of the most gifted footballers he has seen.

Gerrard told FIFA official website, He said: “My favourite player of all time is Zinedine Zidane. Just to see him play – the way he moves, the way he controls the ball, the way he passes – is an absolute privilege and there’s so much you can learn from that guy, he’s a genius with the ball”.

“From an England point of view, there is Gazza. I like watching gifted players who are skilful, and Gazza is probably one of the most skilful English players there’s even been, so I would pick those two.”

About England’s campaign in FIFA World Cup 2010 Gerrard believes England will head to South Africa better prepared, mentally as well as physically, than they have been for previous tournaments – thanks to Fabio Capello.

Gerrard said: “He brings many qualities to the team. He’s a winner. He’s got an unbelievable amount of experience and has enjoyed a remarkable amount of success. He’s transmitting a winning mentality to the team, so fingers crossed that will stand us in good stead for the tournament.”

Steven Gerrard missed a penalty during a shoot-out with Portugal in 2006, Gerrard claims he will be ready this summer to convert a spot-kick.

He said: “I think, having missed the penalty, I’ll probably be a bit more composed next time and take my time a bit more. I’ll work that little bit harder in training to make sure I know what I’m going to be doing. It all happened really fast in 2006 and I felt after the penalties that I should have taken my time more.”

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Zinedine Zidane has made no secret of his admiration for Steven Gerrard (”Is he the best in the world? He might not get the attention of Messi and Ronaldo but yes, I think he might be”), so it is fitting that an animated likeness of the Frenchman goes off in search of the Liverpool captain in a new advertising campaign for a stripey German sportswear company.

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Former Real Madrid star ZZ said: “Is he the best in the world? He might not get the attention of Messi and Ronaldo but yes, I think he just might be.

“If you don’t have a player like Steven Gerrard, who is the engine room, it can affect the whole team.

“When we were winning league titles and European Cups at Real, I always said Claude Makelele was our most important player. There is no way myself, Figo or Raul would have been able to do what we did without Claude and the same goes for Liverpool and Gerrard.

“When Claude left us for Chelsea I campaigned for us to buy Patrick Vieira and Gerrard is now in the same mould as him. For many years, Patrick was the most complete midfielder in the world and now that award must go to Gerrard”.

“No team will be successful without a heartbeat and you can see Gerrard is that heartbeat. He has great passing ability, can tackle and scores goals, but most importantly he gives the players around him confidence and belief.

“You can’t learn that — players like him are just born with that presence.”

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