Jamie Carragher has heaped praise on former team-mate Luis Suarez, while making a telling Liverpool admission.
In 2014, the Reds lost out on winning a first English top-flight crown since 1990 by just two points, as Brendan Rodgers guided the Anfield outfit to an unlikely title charge.
It was Suarez's brilliance and the performances of rising stars such as Raheem Sterling, Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge alongside captain Steven Gerrard 's experience that made it possible, but the ex-defender has recently claimed the "unbelievable" Uruguayan's influence truly made the push happen.
In an interview with fellow pundit Gary Neville on the latest episode of The Overlap, Carragher said: "I actually think [Suarez] was the best centre forward for like three or four years - that last year at Liverpool and what he did for Barcelona the next two of three years.
"You look at what he's done, he leaves Barcelona and wins La Liga with Atletico Madrid, gets to the World Cup semi-final with Uruguay. Everywhere he goes he takes that team [forward].
"That Liverpool team that nearly won the league was an average team," the club legend stated.
"He nearly single-handedly took them to the league, that's what he does with every team he goes to."
Suarez racked up a whopping 31 goals in 33 Premier League games during the 13-14 season, despite missing the first five matches due to a ban for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic late in the prior term upon which Carragher retired.
The title still alluded eluded the Reds, though, with Manchester City claiming the crown and Anfield would have to wait another six years to see their side - at least from home during the pandemic - lift the trophy.
Liverpool went without silverware in almost three-and-a-half years under Rodgers, but Carragher has opened up on life under a manager he did lift one with: Rafa Benitez.
Would Liverpool have won the Premier League under Rodgers if Suarez had stayed? Give us your verdict here.
The current Everton boss led the Reds to two major trophies in 2005, the FA Cup and Champions League, and the 43-year-old player-turned-pundit says he played his best football under the Spaniard, although it was not all rosy.
"With Benitez, it's almost like don't enjoy it... well, you do enjoy it, we did amazing things," Carragher said.
"He's a [Fabio] Capello-type figure, one of those managers. He'd always want more, always want more he'd never say 'you played well.'
"I tell you one thing, if I was going into management, I always remember after the World Cup in 2006, we'd got to the FA Cup final and we'd started the season early because we'd won the Champions League," he explained.
"I was shot and I didn't start the season well and I was getting a bit of criticism, rightly so.
"I just needed Rafa to go 'you've been amazing for years, don't worry about it, you'll be alright in a couple of weeks' but it was still 'you should've done this or that'."
