Michael Owen has explained why Steven Gerrard was superior to Paul Scholes and Frank Lampard.
Owen and Gerrard were teammates at Liverpool during the 2000s, often linking up to devastating effect.
The former Reds striker also played alongside Scholes and Lampard, both of whom are regarded among the best of their generation, for England.
Speaking on The Greatest Game with Jamie Carragher, Owen outlined why Gerrard gets the nod over Scholes and Lampard:
If you watch Scholesy in training, your tongue is hanging out. He can give you the eyes, you can think he’s heading it that way and he’ll almost do a reverse spinner off the other side of his head. He can drop a ball on a sixpence. He is just total and utter genius.
But there’s that and there’s the actual practicalities of playing on a big pitch where you need size, strength, substance, running ability, all these things.
And if you play one v one, you against you, Stevie against any of the names that you’ve mentioned, I think he would eat them for dinner.
Someone like Scholesy obviously had different attributes. I mean, unbelievable, the way he changed his game from being a bombing midfielder to a quarterback. Total genius.
Frank Lampard, who can question his goalscoring and how he got every ounce out of his ability?
But to me, Stevie’s on a different level than anything I’ve seen or played with and as you’ve said, I’m not blowing smoke up my ****, I’ve played with some great Man United players, Liverpool players, Real Madrid, England.
Put it this way. If I’m saying tomorrow, rewind the clock, you’re going into battle now, you’re playing in the Champions League final, who’s your first pick? I’d have Steven Gerrard as my first pick out of anyone.
Read Liverpool Verdict
I couldn’t agree more with Owen’s verdict, even though Scholes and Lampard were superb footballers in their own right.
Gerrard was fast, strong, a superb passer and striker of the ball, a wonderful leader and a man for the big occasion.
No other player in history has scored in the finals of the Champions League, UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup.
Lampard was a better goalscorer than Gerrard, but he didn’t have his dynamism and versatility.
Scholes was perhaps more naturally gifted – only just – but I didn’t oftern see him drag Manchester United through games like Gerrard did at Liverpool.
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