Brendan Rodgers believes Luis Suarez has earned the right to be mentioned in the same breath as Lionel Messi and CristianoRonaldo following his stunning four-goal haul against Norwich City at Anfield on Wednesday night. The Uruguayan, who became the first player in Premier League history to score three hattricks agains the same team, is now out on his own as the league’s top scorer with 13 goals from nine games so far this season.
“He deserves mention with Messi and Ronaldo,”Liverpool coach Rodgers said following the 5-1 win in which Suarez scored four goals and added an assist. “I’ve not seen many performances like that. It was sheer brilliance and a joy towatch. He is technically very good, but it was a remarkable individual performance. As a manager you like to talk about the team, but you have got to hold up Luis as one of the best strikers in theworld.”
He added: “With modern day, world-class operators like Ronaldo, [Gareth] Bale and Messi it’s about the numbers and what they produce.Look at the goals he scores and the assists he makes. I don’t even know which was the best goal. I look at the first one and the dip he got on the ball from so far out was outstanding, but Ithen look at the third goal and think what an incredible effort that was.”
In an interview with Marca, Suarez said that for now, he is content to remain at Anfield. “I am happy tobe in the Premier League, the best league there is. I am happy here and I will stay.” When asked about challenging for the EPL title, the 26-year-old replied: “I don’t know aboutchallenging for the title, but we want to be as high up in the table as possible and do as well as we can. I think we can achieve our target.”