Steven Gerrard says Luis Suarez is the best player he played with at Liverpool

Luis Suarez may not be seeing the minutes he is used to at Atletico Madrid, but the Uruguayan remains one of the greatest forwards La Liga has seen. Steven Gerrard believes the same is true for the Premier League.

Speaking to Gary Neville on ‘The Overlap’, Gerrard was asked a series of questions about his life and career by his former England teammate.

Although he was keen to point out that Fernando Torres was a great player, the Aston Villa manager only had one answer when asked which he preferred between the two.

“I’d say Suarez just because he had everything and I mean, how long have you got to describe him?”

Gerrard spent most of his career at Liverpool and reached two Champions League finals, winning one. Although he only won the League Cup with Suarez, Gerrard agreed that he was the best player he’d shared a pitch with at Liverpool.

“Yeah definitely, I’ve played with some top players, your Alonsos, Mascheranos, Torres’, you just felt no matter who you were playing, he was going to win you the game.”

Neville asked if appreciating Suarez’s quality was an immediate realisation or something that became clear with time.

“Straight away, he trained the way he played. I remember me and [Jamie] Carragher were like ‘I don’t want to play against him in training.’ He was that intense in training. He could embarrass you. Even with things I’m not sure he knew he was doing, with ricochets. He would run over you, he would dominate you, he would bully you.”

El Pistolero was always a controversial figure in England, after being accused of racism by Patrice Evra and the two separate biting incidents during his time at Liverpool, one with Uruguay. Gerrard says that was a departure from his usual personality though.

“The guy I know and the character I know was different from the incidents and I’m sure he’s matured off the back of them.”