Former Sunderland loan star Danny Welbeck has recalled how Liverpool icon Steven Gerrard elbowed him during histime with the Black Cats. Welbeck says he hasn't forgotten the incident which left Lee Cattermole and Steve Bruce fuming.
Welbeck enjoyed a productive loan spell with Sunderland during the early years of his career. The striker, who came through the ranks at Manchester United, played 26 times, scoring six goals during the 2010-11 season.
The 34-year-old has went on to have a stellar career. After returning to Old Trafford, he won the Premier League in 2013 and two League Cups, before winning a further two FA Cups with Arsenal.
Now at Brighton, he dumped Newcastle United out of this season's FA Cup at the weekend with the winning goal at St James' Park in extra time.
Welbeck remembered the Gerrard incident when he was quizzed over the decades-long debate over who was the better midfielder out of the Liverpool legend and Frank Lampard, when discussing his best England teammate. The 34-year-old forward has described an incident involving the midfielder that resulted in a yellow card for Gerrard.
The encounter came during Roy Hodgson's reign at Anfield as Liverpool managed to salvage a draw against the Black Cats thanks to Gerrard's 63rd-minute equaliser.
Welbeck joked about the incident and opted to pick Lampard over Gerrard as his favoured England teammate. He said: "It's so hard, it's really difficult because me growing up, I got to watch them every single weekend. I seen them both week in, week out for years upon years.
"Stevie G, I don't know if he remembers this actually, he probably will remember it. He actually one time - I was on loan at Sunderland and I remember when we went to Anfield and he gave me an elbow right across my head.
"Then I think Lee Cattermole's gone over like, 'what's that about?' he's like, 'Oh leave, he's a Manc.' or whatever so, stuff like that.
"I'm going for Lampard. I'm going for Lamps because of that. Yeah Stevie G, you're getting that one [Lampard better]."
At the time, the alleged elbow left Steve Bruce outraged at the Liverpool captain escaping further punishment. The then-Sunderland manager argued: "If it was Lee he would have been sent off.
"You saw it, you can write it. It is a strange one to give a yellow card for that."
