Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has insisted that the club have an "added incentive" to win the FA Cup this season due to Steven Gerrard's impending departure in the summer.
The club captain has opted to leave Anfield at the end of the season following a 25-year career on Merseyside.
The 34-year-old has won 11 trophies during his time at Liverpool, but Rodgers believes that sealing FA Cup triumph in May would be the perfect send-off for the midfielder, who is widely expected to sign an 18-month deal with MLS side Los Angeles Galaxy.
"Our aim was always to win a trophy this year and even more so now with that added incentive," The Express quotes Rodgers as saying.
"To have a captain who has been a monumental figure for this club leaving, there'd be no greater tribute than to reach a final, particularly an FA Cup Final, and to see him lift a trophy.
"That's what dreams are all about. It would be a great way for him to end his career and certainly we don't want Stoke City to be our last game of the season."
The Reds begin their FA Cup campaign with a third-round tie away to AFC Wimbledon this evening.
Danielle Joynson
