The Cardiff City forward, briefly a team-mate of the Uruguayan at Anfield, believes that the 27-year-old’s deadly finishing makes him the Premier League’s best player

Cardiff City forward Craig Bellamy believes that there are only two players in the world better than Liverpool star Luis Suarez – Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Uruguayan continued his sensational 2013-14 season with a hat-trick in the Reds’ 6-3 win in Wales on Saturday, taking his tally to 28 goals in 25 appearances.

And Bellamy, a former team-mate of Suarez at Anfield who featured for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men at the Cardiff City Stadium, believes that the 27-year-old is the Premier League’s most outstanding player.

“There’s Messi and then Ronaldo – that is it for the best, best players [in the world] because they have just hit a level that I don’t think any of us have ever seen; these guys are hitting 40 or 50 goals a season regularly,” the Welshman told Liverpool’s official website.

“Then there’s a group just beneath that and Luis is at the top of that group. There’s no two ways about that.

“I had the opportunity and the pleasure to train with him and play with him and he was outstanding then. The better the team has got, it has just allowed Luis to flourish as well.

“Liverpool have a lot of top players. [Daniel] Sturridge is brilliant and there’s Stevie [Steven Gerrard], who is just immense.

“But, with a player like Luis there, you have an opportunity to win every single game you go into because he is that good.”