STEVIE IS THE GREATEST

Rooney snubs team-mate Scholes and reckons Liverpool legend Gerrard is best of the Golden Generation Big Three (and then ranks Messi over another clubmate, Ronaldo, for best player ever)

- DAVID ANDERSON

WAYNE ROONEY has run the risk of angering Manchester United fans by picking Steven Gerrard over Paul Scholes in the debate over who was best.

Rooney played with both and says Liverpool legend Gerrard was the best "all-rounder" out of that England midfield of Scholes and Frank Lampard.

Rooney claims his fellow Scouser could have starred at United, but that Scholes could never have done what Gerrard (in action against Rooney, below) did for Liverpool at Anfield.

"Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard are all different," he said on Sky Bet's The Overlap.

"As an all-rounder, Stevie is the best. He can defend, pass the ball, run, tackle, score goals, set pieces. As an all-rounder, he's the best from that point of view.

"From a goalscoring point of view, Lamps was the best. The goals he scored were incredible from midfield and technically, he wasn't at Stevie or Scholesy's level, but there was no one better at scoring goals from midfield.