Cesc Fabregas may have finally ended the Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes and Frank Lampard debate – by naming Gerrard as his toughest ever opponent.

The three English midfielders have been compared throughout their careers and the debate over who is best still rages on.

Former Arsenal and Chelsea man Fabregas played against all three men during his time in England and pointed to former Liverpool captain Gerrard as the true standard bearer.

He told Match Of The Day’s Top 10 podcast: “If I have to say one – and I really enjoyed playing against – I would say Steven Gerrard.

“He was physically the most difficult opponent to handle. He was the box-to-box player, he could be on his right or left, shooting from the outside of his boot. He was a machine.”

Gerrard was known for his tenacity and ability to pull something out of nothing on the pitch, leading his side to important victories single-handedly.

Fabregas has showered United legend Scholes with praise in the past and claimed he “admires” him, while also discussing Gerrard.

“Since I was little I had this thing about Steven Gerrard,” Fabregas told Rio Ferdinand on ‘The Locker Room’ podcast.

“He was someone in my hometown when we used to watch the highlights of the Premier League he used to score these screamers from outside the box, and running into space, and he used to be everywhere and I used to look up to him a lot.

“In terms of the way I play and the way that I see football, it is Paul Scholes.

“What a player. He loved one-twos, he was right, he was left, he always demanded the ball.”

Fabregas came across Lampard in numerous clashes between Arsenal and Chelsea, while they also met during the Spaniard’s time at Barcelona.

Lampard left Stamford Bridge in 2014, weeks before Fabregas himself arrived at Chelsea.

The current Blues boss joked back in 2017 that he was let go by the club so they could sign Fabregas.

“We never played together!” he said to BT Sport per Chelsea-News.

They let me go to get Cesc in. Me and Cesc never really got on well on the pitch so they didn’t think we could share a dressing room.”

source:- sportbible