Daniele De Rossi: It was a pleasure and honour to play against Steven Gerrard

Roma midfielder says it was 'emotional' to face England skipper

'He's also a nice guy' adds De Rossi

Mario Balotelli 'would score triple the goals' if he improved his movement

Italy midfielder Daniele De Rossi was full of praise for England captain Steven Gerrard, describing facing him as 'always a pleasure and an honour'.

Speaking after Italy's 2-1 win over England in Manaus, the Roma star compared Gerrard to Andrea Pirlo, Xavi and Andres Iniesta, as well as England team-mate Frank Lampard.



The Italian hard-man also had a pop at team-mate and match-winner Mario Balotelli, saying the former Manchester City striker would score three times the number of goals if he made the right movements.

VIDEO Scroll down for De Rossi is ready to battle for Italy to win the World Cup



Joy: De Rossi (right) celebrates Italy's first goal but said afterwards that it was an honour to play against Gerrard

Legends: England captain Gerrard is in the same league as Italian maestro Andrea Pirlo according to De Rossi

High praise: De Rossi likened Gerrard to Spanish midfielders Xavi (left) and Iniesta (right)



'It is never normal for me to play against Gerrard,' De Rossi said after the game. 'It always gets me emotional, I won’t deny it.



'Of course, on the field you’ve got to get stuck in there, but it is always a pleasure and an honour. He’s also a very nice guy, always very approachable.



'I cheered on Liverpool until the end, but they lost the Premier League title in an incredible way.



'Players like Gerrard, Andrea Pirlo, Frank Lampard, Xavi or Iniesta never go past the apex of their careers.'

De Rossi was less kind about Mario Balotelli, who scored the goal which beat England in Brazil on Saturday night.



'Balotelli is a player with great quality and his goal was scored with the movement of a real hitman.



Just the one: Balotelli scored the crucial goal in Manaus but De Rossi thinks he is capable of even more Getting stuck in: De Rossi went in two-footed on Rooney, but escaped without a card

Warning: The Roma midfielder has a tattoo of a tackle on his leg, and put his foot in against England

'He has the quality of the greatest strikers, but sometimes doesn’t move the way they do. This is a problem for him, as he’d score triple the goals if he made the right movements.



'Mario is starting to understand that now, as his teammates and the Coach help him. You can see he is beginning to mature tactically.

'In my view if Balotelli learned to run into space and stretch out the team, he’d become unstoppable, because physically there are no defenders who can hold him.'