Steven Gerrard has explained how Luis Suarez was the best player he shared a dressing room during his 17-year Liverpool career, ahead of the likes of Fernando Torres and Xabi Alonso.
The ex-Reds skipper is now at the helm of fellow Premier League outfit Aston Villa as manager, but spent time reflecting on his playing days with former England teammate Gary Neville as part of the Overlap series. Ex- Manchester United star Neville asked Gerrard who his most gifted teammate was out of Suarez or Torres and the Liverpool icon conceded he is faced with that question plenty of times.
"I get asked this question all the time. They’re both phenomenal but I’d say Suarez just because he had everything," Gerrard said. "I played with some top players – Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano, Torres – but Suarez was just different. No matter who you were playing you just had a feeling that he was going to win you the game, every game."
Suarez announced himself to the world stage as one of the most potent strikers playing the game while at Liverpool. The Uruguay international netted 82 goals in 133 appearances in all competitions across three-and-a-half seasons with the Reds.
The money used to purchase Suarez from Dutch giants Ajax was actually partially helped by the transfer funds raised when Torres upped sticks to Chelsea in what was a controversial £50million move to West London.
Gerrard reflected on what it was like to train alongside Suarez and the fear he instilled into his own teammates. "Within the first session, second session it was almost like he trained the way he played,’ the former Liverpool skipper claimed.
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"I remember walking off one of the main sessions that we’ve done with Carra [Jamie Carragher] and me and Carra are like oh my god this fella’s got bundles, plenty. I remember him saying to me, 'I don’t want to play against him every day,' he was that intense in training.
"He could embarrass you, even with stuff that I don’t even think he knew he was doing. He was a ricochet merchant, he’d run over you, he’d dominate you, he’d bully you." Unfortunately for both the club and the player, Suarez's time in Merseyside was not without controversy.
Before his eventual move to Barcelona in 2015, the striker's relationship with then-Reds boss Brendan Rodgers had deteriorated. Gerrard recalled the period and explained how it was impossible to be there for Suarez all the time.
"When he had the situation with Brendan Rodgers, I tried to be a bit of a go between but there’s certain situations where you’d have to back away and let him and his people deal with it themselves, not that I didn’t want to help him but sometimes the situation is bigger than it was."
