Richards chooses between Lampard and Gerrard in explosive rant

Former England defender Micah Richards has picked his favorite between Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard and Chelsea legend Frank Lampard.

The age-old debate over who was the better of the two iconic English midfielders has been going on since forever. But for Richards, it seems pretty straight-forward.

On Match of the Day Top 10 podcast, Richards named his top 10 English players in the Premier League era. Former Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard topped Richards' list ahead of Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney in second and third respectively.

During conversations with Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker, Richards made an explosive rant on why Gerrard was a far superior player to Chelsea legend Frank Lampard. The 33-year-old said, as quoted by Give Me Sport:

“If you had to pick one player to come into a team, you can’t tell me you’d pick Lampard over Gerrard!”

Gary Lineker intervened to say that if a goalscorer was needed, Lampard could be picked ahead of the Liverpool legend. However, Richards was having none of it and responded:

“No, no! But Gerrard scores goals. If he was put in a role where he could be the third man runner into the box, he would score the goals that Lampard [did].

“If he was in the team that Lampard [was in]… he would score equal the goals.”

The former Premier League right-back then turned to Alan Shearer and continued:

“You’ve played with both of them. And I’ve played with both of them. And when you’re on the same pitch as them it’s chalk and cheese!

“Like, Lampard is brilliant at what he does but it’s his mind and his running and the way he finds his way into the box… but he doesn’t dictate a game."

Shearer interrpted to say that it was a unique ability of the Chelsea legend. But Richards was adamant that Gerrard could have done that if he had played in a similar setup to that of Lampard.

The former Manchester City defender added:

“Yeah, but he’s allowed to do that in the set up he did!”

Both the Chelsea and Liverpool legends were fantastic midfielders

Both Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard were brilliant midfielders. Both were among the best players of their generation and will forever be regarded as two of the finest players England has ever produced.

Richards is right to say that Gerrard was far more of a complete midfielder in comparison to his Chelsea counterpart.

The Liverpool legend is arguably one of the most complete and all-action footballers of the modern era.

He carried his beloved club on his shoulders for a long time but did not win as much as he should have with his ability.

However, it would be pretty unfair to say that Gerrard is miles ahead of Chelsea legend Lampard in terms of ability.

The now Everton boss used to be a master of scoring goals from midfield and making a difference on a weekly basis.