Training with Suarez is like facing Messi, says Liverpool defender Enrique

07-Mar-2013 4:00:00 PM

The left-back admitted it is near impossible to tackle the striker despite knowing his tricks, much like the Argentine, and says he deserves to be crowned Player of the Year

Liverpool defender Jose Enrique has likened the difficulty of trying to mark Luis Suarez in training to playing against Barcelona star Lionel Messi.

The Uruguayan is the Premier League's top scorer so far this season, netting 21 times, and has mesmerised defences with his bag of tricks on many occasions.


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And his Spanish team-mate revealed that he still finds it hard to stop the striker in training, despite playing with him almost every day, indicating his knack of beating players is similar to that of the Argentine sensation.

"I tell [Luis] all the time that he always does the same thing - he tries to do nutmegs. It's always 'megs, 'megs, 'megs. And you just know that he is going to do it but you can't stop him," he told the club's official website.

"When you know someone, you can know what they are going to do but he's still a very difficult player to train against.

"He scores so many goals in training. It's like with Messi - everyone says [Messi] is going to cut inside all the time. And you know that he is going to do this but you can't stop him from cutting inside and scoring goals.

"With Luis [and nutmegs] it's the same. Of course there are some differences between the two players."

With the end of the season in sight the full-back insisted that the forward deserves the Player of the Year award, but admitted it will be hard for him to beat Robin van Persie and Gareth Bale due to the Reds' league position.

"Van Persie and Bale are on fire," he continued. "Van Persie has been a very important player for Manchester United this season and Bale is doing very well - in the last few games, Spurs have won because of Bale's goals.

"But Luis is my friend, so I would like him to win the Player of the Year award.

"Judging the award is really difficult because a lot of the time it depends on where a team is in the league and Tottenham and Manchester United are both in better positions than us. So it will be difficult for him. But, of course, I think he deserves it."