Five-time champion Liverpool out of Champions League
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The Swiss visitors secured the point they required to advance alongside Group B winner Real Madrid, with midfielder Fabian Frei putting Basel ahead in the 25th minute with a low, angled strike.
Needing a victory to overtake Basel, Liverpool had halftime substitute Lazar Markovic sent off on the hour mark but Gerrard set up a grandstand finish by curling in a 20-meter free kick in the 81st.
Basel survived some nervy final moments, ensuring Liverpool finished third and drops into the Europa League.
The way things are going for Liverpool this season, it could be a while before the team is playing at this level again. And this may yet be Gerrard's swansong in the Champions League.
It was almost 10 years to the day that he scored a brilliant long-range goal for the Reds in the final minutes to seal a 3-1 comeback victory over Olympiakos in their final group game and progress to the knockout stage. They won the competition, for the fifth time, that season.
So often Liverpool's inspiration down the years, it seemed the 34-year-old Gerrard might propel the team to another memorable comeback when he curled a free kick into the top corner to send Anfield into raptures. Ten minutes earlier, Gerrard almost earned Liverpool a penalty and it was the former England captain who led a late charge that came up just short, despite chances for Jordan Henderson and Martin Skrtel.
All that playing with 10 men, after Markovic was given a straight red card for throwing out his right arm at Behrang Safari and appearing to brush his fingers across the defender's face. The winger had rejuvenated Liverpool's attacking game in the 15 minutes he was on the field.
Before halftime, Basel had given a pedestrian home side — nervous at the back and static in midfield — the runaround at times.
The Swiss team has now lost just once in 10 Champions League games against Premier League opposition and again seemed to relish this lofty occasion in front of its boisterous fans.
Frei made the most of space afforded to him at the edge of the box to play a one-two with Luca Zuffi and smash a low finish into the corner to quieten an already-edgy Anfield.
Marco Streller and Fabian Schar could have added more for Basel in the first half.
Liverpool's revival came too late and it exits the competition on just five points and with its only win in a disappointing campaign coming against group minnow Ludogorets Razgrad — through Gerrard's injury-time penalty.
