I played against Sergio Busquets, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale but the annoying Luis Suárez was unplayable
Phil Jagielka says Luis Suárez was the player who gave him his most difficult games.
Over 12 seasons in EvertonJagielka played 385 times and faced some of the best players in his centre-back role.
The former Toffees captain, who has also earned 40 caps for England, faced some of the world's greatest talents during his 23-year career, including Cristiano RonaldoSergio Busquets and Gareth Bale.
But it was the Merseyside derby, against Liverpool and Suárez, where he knew that a difficult afternoon awaited him.
“Suárez at that moment was unplayable,” he told talkSPORT.com when asked which players made it difficult for him.
“He was very active without the ball. The ball would fall to him and he would finish it at times; he would show both sides of the game, work as hard as anyone and score the goals.
“Obviously Stevie G (Steven Gerrard) in a similar area would score a lot of goals, but I think, striker-wise, Suarez was, should we say the most annoying? That might sum up how to describe him.
“I guess if you're a striker, that's what you want to hear, what other defenders think about you.
“We had other people like Kevin Davies, John Carew, he was almost impossible to play against, he's probably twice my size, but for a different reason to people like Suarez.”
Jagielka played and lost against Suárez on six occasions, five of which were in the Premier League with Everton and one in the 2014 World Cup with England.
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The striker scored six goals during their matches, and the defender found it difficult to nullify his quality.
Liverpool saw Suarez's attacking prowess at Ajax and signed him in 2011, and the Uruguayan scored 82 goals in 133 games for the club.
He left Anfield in 2014 for Barcelona, where he won four LaLiga titles, four Copas del Rey and the Champions League during a brilliant six-year period.
Suárez is already reunited with his Barça teammate Lionel Messi at Inter Miami, with MLS teams about to take on one of the most prolific players in soccer and get a taste of what Jagielka had to face.
