BOLTON, ENGLAND - Saturday, August 29, 2009: Liverpool's captain Steven Gerrard MBE celebrates scoring his side's winning third goal against Bolton Wanderers with team mate Lucas Leiva during the Premiership match at the Reebok Stadium. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

Steven Gerrard pays tribute to “Brazilian Scouser” Lucas Leiva after retirement

Steven Gerrard has paid his tribute to Lucas Leiva, who retired from football at the age of 36, commending an “incredible career” but an “even better guy.”

Lucas’ tearful announcement to see his “health come first” came last week, months after routine checks during pre-season detected an irregularity in his heart.

Further tests would see Lucas make the decision to retire from professional football after a combined 583 games for Gremio, Liverpool and Lazio.

The confirmation of the news was met with widespread love for the Brazilian, with the likes of Luis Suarez, Philippe Coutinho and Martin Skrtel all paying tribute.

And Gerrard has since followed, lauding Liverpool’s “Brazilian Scouser” in a post on Instagram.

“The Brazilian Scouser @leivalucas what an incredible career and an even better guy,” Gerrard penned.

“A pleasure to share the dressing room with you, great memories. Enjoy retirement and see you at the charity games! Good luck amigo.”

Commenting on Gerrard’s post, Lucas thanked his former captain, writing: “Thank you my friend the pleasure was mine to play with you. See you soon captain.”

Gerrard and Lucas shared the pitch 186 times at Liverpool over the course of eight years, with the Brazilian setting up a goal for the captain on four different occasions.

Gerrard reciprocated once and it could be considered a collector’s item with Lucas having only scored seven times in his Reds career that spanned a decade.

What a sight it will be to see the pair together at a charity match in the future, two Liverpool heroes in their own right.