After the Uruguayan got back to scoring ways against Southampton, the Reds midfielder declared his belief that his team-mate is firmly among the best players in the world

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard believes that Luis Suarez is up there with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the best player in the world.

The Uruguayan scored his 25th goal and registered his 11th assist of the season against Southampton on Saturday, playing a key role in the Reds’ 3-0 win, and the midfielder was left awestruck by his performance.

“I’ve run out of words to describe him,” Gerrard told reporters. “We’re blessed in this country to have some really top forwards but for me, without being biased, he’s the best.

“I’ve said it many times, I look at Messi and Ronaldo and, yeah, they’re world-class players but, outside of that, you have [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic and Luis Suarez, who are pushing those two really close.

“Performances like this, where he hasn’t scored for four or five games but he’s getting assists, causing so many problems. He’s relentless. He’s a winner, he’s a killer and we’re lucky to have him.”

The skipper added to the Liverpool Echo: “Luis showed once again that he’s an absolute genius. People had been talking about him going five games without a goal but his contribution to the team has never wavered.

“He is very unselfish. At times he’s been asked to play in a wider role and he has shown what a great team player he is. Even when he wasn’t scoring, he was still terrorising defenders and creating goals for us.

“It was a great way for him to celebrate 100 league games for the club. His record is phenomenal.”

The win at St Mary’s Stadium moved Brendan Rodgers’s side up to second in the Premier League and Gerrard believes that their underdog status could well see them win the title.

“I think it’s very nice people are talking about us and we’re in the title race. There’s no getting away from that, we’re in it,” he declared to the press.

“But it’s important we stay calm, keep taking it game by game and try to win as many games as we can.

“Manchester City and Chelsea are still the favourites because they have that experience of going to win it but I think both know, listening to Jose Mourinho and Manuel Pellegrini, that we’re a big threat because we’ve got no Europe and we can be fresh every game.

“Yes, it does suit us at the moment being underdogs. What suits us as well is we’ve a lot of time to prepare.”