The jury at Liverpool Crown Court found the Liverpool captain not guilty of affray, accepting the footballer's explanation that he acted in self defence in punching businessman Marcus McGee at the Lounge Inn bar on December 29 in a dispute over music.

"Can I just say how pleased I am with today's verdict," Gerrard said outside the court. "I'm glad to put this case behind me and I am really looking forward to the season ahead and concentrating on my football now.

"I would just like to say a big thank you to my legal team and to my friends and family and everyone at Liverpool Football Club for supporting me."

The 29-year-old Gerrard has played for Liverpool for his entire career and last month signed a contract with the club until 2013.

After leading the Reds to its fifth Champions League title in 2005, he was honoured as a Member of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II and remains the key member of Rafa Benitez's team.

"We are really pleased," Benitez said from Singapore where Liverpool is on a pre-season tour. "He is very important for us and he can now focus just on football. We are all pleased at the club and over here at the training camp.

"We have been supporting him all the time and were just waiting for the decision. Now he can concentrate just on football and hopefully play at the same level as last year."

Gerrard was the only one of seven defendants to be cleared over the incident, which was described an "explosion of violence" by the judge.

He showed no emotion when the jury foreman delivered the not-guilty verdict after 70 minutes of deliberation.

"The verdict is a credible verdict on the full facts of this case," judge Henry Globe told Gerrard. "You walk away from this court with your reputation intact."

Gerrard was celebrating in the Southport bar near Liverpool after scoring twice in his team's 5-1 win at Newcastle. He was with a party of friends, including former Liverpool manager and player Kenny Dalglish.

chanting football songs

Video footage from the bar showed Gerrard and his friends drinking beer, downing spirits and dancing while chanting football songs. But trouble flared at around 2 a.m. when Gerrard wanted to change the music on the CD player.

The 34-year-old McGee said Gerrard had tried to grab a music card from him after being refused control of the device.

Gerrard admitted throwing three punches but said only one connected. He said he only swung at McGee because he thought he was about to be attacked himself.

"What at first sight to the casual observer may seem to have been a clear-cut case against you of unlawful violence, has been nowhere near as clear-cut upon careful analysis of the evidence," Globe said.

'trivial disagreement'

The judge suggested it was unwise of Gerrard to approach McGee to resolve the earlier "trivial disagreement".

"You did not start the violence, it was started by the violent elbowing of Marcus McGee in the face by one of your friends, John Doran," Globe said. "The victim's consequential actions of reeling backwards and then forwards, and your actions in response to that movement forward has to be seen against that background.

"At all times you insisted that you only ever acted in what you believed was reasonable selfdefence to what you understandably, albeit you accept mistakenly, believed was an attempted attack upon you by Marcus McGee."

Five other men have already pleaded guilty in the incident and another admitted a lesser charge of threatening behaviour.

The six men will be sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on August 7.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard faces the media outside the Crown Court in Liverpool, England, yesterday after being found not guilty of affray after an incident in a Southport nightclub in December 2008.