Gerrard's £10m wonder strike

Steven Gerrard hailed the greatest goal of his career after his late strike propelled Liverpool, almost inconceivably, into the knockout phase of the Champions League.

The England midfielder's thunderous half-volley three minutes from time capped a remarkable comeback on one of the great nights in the club's history.

A 2-1 scoreline would have sent Olympiakos through to the last 16 and banished Rafael Benitez's team to the UEFA Cup. But Gerrard's late goal to seal the 3-1 victory transformed not only the finances, but perhaps the destiny of the team as well as their ambitious captain.

"Thank God for that strike," Gerrard said. "I have never scored a better goal and I'm just glad for the fans I did it."

He had admitted on the eve of the match that he might quit the club in the summer, with Chelsea favourites to snap him up, unless Liverpool looked like challenging for titles. "After what I said before the match there was a lot of pressure on me. My performance over 90 minutes was not one of my best but that was the best goal I have scored. The ball took ages to come down but it was about time that I caught one that sweet."

Getting through to the last 16 of the Champions League has guaranteed Liverpool up to £10million in television and prize money.

Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Neil Mellor, on as substitutes, swung the game Liverpool's way with goals in the 47th and 81st minutes but it is unthinkable that Liverpool would have triumphed without the compelling contribution of Gerrard.

The midfielder added: "I'd be lying if I said I didn't think we were down and out at half-time. There was a mountain to climb and, when we heard the score in La Coruna [where Monaco were en route to a 5-0 victory over Deportivo], it was an even bigger mountain."

Benitez said: "It is one of the proudest nights of my career. We knew before the game that it was very important for the club to gain these extra finances. This result is very, very important."

Gerrard will now certainly stay at Anfield until the summer and if Liverpool keep improving at this rate, they could well do enough to convince him to stay longer.

The one sour note was that a yellow card for Gerrard has ruled him out of the first leg of Liverpool's last-16 tie.

Meanwhile, Manchester United's second-string side lost 3-0 in Fenerbahce as Sir Alex Ferguson gambled on a favourable draw.