Lucas Leiva deserves special mention, says Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard

Steven Gerrard has praised Lucas Leiva’s impact after a 2-1 win at West Ham United on Sunday.

The Brazil international was brought on to replace Philippe Coutinho at half-time and help Liverpool get the upper-hand in midfield against the Hammers.

The ball he played for the second goal – people have been raving about Coutinho all year and the passes he has made – but for me, that was right up there with Brazil’s best

Steven Gerrard

Lucas fed the ball to Jon Flanagan which led to Liverpool’s second-half penalty after Guy Demel had cancelled out Gerrard’s opening spot-kick.

And the Liverpool captain was impressed with Lucas’s display in front of Brazil manager Luiz Felipe Scolari.

“Lucas deserves a special mention,” Gerrard said.

“I think there was a lot of pressure on him today – the Brazil coach was here to watch him. He hasn’t played much of late, but he’s come back and worked his socks off to get fit.

“The ball he played for the second goal – people have been raving about Coutinho all year and the passes he has made – but for me, that was right up there with Brazil’s best. I think that helped us go on and get the win.

“So it’s great credit to Lucas and I think it shows that in this squad now we have a bit of everything – a bit of class, a bit of skill in Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge and Coutinho. But we’ve also got some steel. We have lads here who want to roll their sleeves up and dig in. That’s what we did today.”