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In 2014, Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney hailed Luis Suarez as one of the best players in the world, placing him in the same elite category as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. At the time, both Messi and Ronaldo were at the peak of their powers, dominating the sport with Barcelona and Real Madrid, respectively.
While Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were mesmerizing football fans in LaLiga at the time, Luis Suarez was also tearing it up in the Premier League with Liverpool.
Ahead of a Premier League match between Manchester United and Liverpool in the 2013-14 season, Rooney spoke highly of Suarez and put him in the same bracket as Messi and Ronaldo. The former England international told MUTV:
"Suarez, for me, is up there with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as one of the best players in the world. He has been that good and the two of them [Suarez and Sturridge] together have been in great form this season. We will have to do everything we can to stop them."
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Suarez would go on to win the Premier League top scorer award that season, although Liverpool lost the league title to Manchester City.
With 31 goals, Suarez also won his first European Golden Shoe award. He jointly won it with Cristiano Ronaldo, as both scored the same number of goals in their respective leagues during the 2013-14 season.
Rio Ferdinand believes Barcelona star is ahead of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are currently in the twilight of their careers. Despite being past their primes, emerging youngsters in the sport are still compared to the two icons.
La Masia graduate Lamine Yamal has taken the football world by storm and has mostly been compared with eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi. Barcelona played out a 3-3 draw with Inter Milan in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final first leg last Wednesday.
Despite the draw, Yamal stole the show as he bamboozled the opposition players throughout the game. Talking about the match, Ferdinand heaped praise on Yamal’s dribbling ability and insisted that he is better than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo at his current age (17).
The former Red Devils defender said, as quoted by TNT Sports:
''It was one of the best 45 minutes I've seen - definitely from a young player - but almost from any player I've seen live. It's just ridiculous what he's done. His ability to take people on. I think the thing that really caught my eye about him, other than the moments of brilliance, is that every part of his left foot was used in that game. He's an artist.''
He added:
''At this age, he's ahead of Cristiano, he's ahead of Messi. His stats alone - he's had 100 appearances at 17! These guys were nowhere near that and he's dominating games, he's defining games.''
Messi and Ronaldo no longer play in Europe. The former plays with Inter Miami in the MLS, while the latter plies his trade with Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League.
