Fernando Torres says Steven Gerrard is the best he has played with

Fernando Torres: Hails Steven Gerrard as the best he has ever played with

Fernando Torres has hailed former Liverpool team-mate Steven Gerrard as the best player he has ever played with, putting him ahead of a host of Spanish World Cup winners.

Torres won back-to-back European Championships as well as the 2010 World Cup with Spain, playing alongside the likes of Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta.

But the 31-year-old says Gerrard, who he shared a successful spell with at Liverpool between 2007 and 2011, is his ideal player.

"It is very difficult to choose because I have had the luck to play with a lot of great footballers. For me, the best is and has been Gerrard," Torres said in an interview with Spanish newspaper Marca.

"I would chose him above all if I had to have him in my team, if I had him behind me. Steven Gerrard is the best player I have played with throughout my career, therefore my ideal player would be very like him."

After leaving Liverpool for a disappointing four-year stint at Chelsea, Torres is now back where his career began at Atletico Madrid.

Steven Gerrard is the best player I have played with throughout my career, therefore my ideal player would be very like him. Fernando Torres on Steven Gerrard

And the striker hinted that he could be involved in coaching at Atletico's youth academy once the time comes to hang up his boots.

He said: "For me it would be nice to work with the kids. I think it is important that they have the right coaching and the club is doing a good job in that aspect at the moment.

"I compare it to when I started and now they have a lot more facilities and can develop much better."

Watch Deportivo take on Atletico Madrid from the Riazor, on Saturday 18 April, live on Sky Sports 5 at 5pm.