• Premier League

Enrique: Suarez is Liverpool's Messi

ESPN staff
March 13, 2013
Luis Suarez has scored 22 league goals for Liverpool this season © Getty Images
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Jose Enrique has compared the influence of Luis Suarez at Liverpool to that of Lionel Messi at Barcelona, insisting the Reds can always rely on the striker.

Suarez has scored 22 of Liverpool's 56 league goals this season with Enrique crediting the Uruguay international for his improvement in form over the last 12 months.

Enrique's presence in attack down the left for Liverpool has allowed him to combine with Suarez and the defender believes the 26-year-old is a focal point for the Reds.

"If you are good players you understand each other," Enrique said. "When I was at Villarreal with [Diego] Forlan I linked up really well with him as well. In the game all the time the first person I look for is him (Suarez) and he always makes a movement and I try to put the ball there and he does the rest.

"It is really easy to understand with him. He is our best player and he can do something from nothing. It's like at Barcelona - the first player they look for when the game is in a bad situation is Messi because you know he can do something. Luis is the same - I look for him because I know he can do something different and we understand each other."

Liverpool have struggled to claw their way back from losing positions in the Premier League this season and Enrique believes Sunday's 3-2 win over Tottenham, in which Suarez scored the opener, was a significant turning point for Brendan Rodgers' side.

"In the first half they [Tottenham] killed us a little bit because they scored in the last minute," he said. "It was a little bit bad at that point but the manager said some words in the dressing room to lift us.

"They scored again in the second half and, to be honest, I didn't think we would win the game. The statistics speak for themselves - of course you want to win and we will try but for our mentality we don't have good experiences of this type when we are losing.

"But the team worked very hard and this is the important thing because when the team stick together you can see the results and the character from the team was really good."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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