Rodgers: Suarez is Liverpool´s Messi

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has placed Luis Suarez in the same class as Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.

The Uruguay international produced a match-winning display against Sunderland on Wednesday, setting up Raheem Sterling’s opener before putting two goals past the Black Cats to seal all three points for the Merseyside outfit.

And Rodgers was liberal in his praise for the striker, suggesting that he can maintain his form through playing as many as three games a week, such is his talent.

“Luis was sensational (against Sunderland),” he said. “His cleverness in finding space is incredible.

“He’s a striker that has to play two or three times a week to be on top of his game – one game a week is no good to him. He needs to be playing.

“And you see the response you get from him. His work has never dropped. Like Messi he is a real team player and trains every day.

“He is never in the treatment room and then he comes out and performs. As the ball moves he finds the spaces. He’s a wonderful talent, and it will be fantastic to see him develop here.”

QPR boss Harry Redknapp also echoed Rodgers’ comparison to Argentina international Messi after the London outfit’s 3-0 defeat to Liverpool on December 30.

“I was talking with Harry Redknapp after our game at QPR,” Rodgers said. “He said Luis is a Messi-type character.”

Adamant that a challenge for Champions League football is still possible, Rodgers has admitted
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a good run of results could build up enough momentum to propel the club into the prestigious top four come the campaign’s end.

“I believe the second half of the season we can up the tempo and kick on as we have always hoped to do,” he said.

“You could see it in our performance tonight (against Sunderland), we have the capacity to do that. It’s about consistency from now, and I hope we can get that.

“We were disappointed with the performance against Stoke, but six goals and two clean sheets is the perfect reaction to that, and it’s nine points from 12 over the difficult Christmas period.”