Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has backed midfielder Steven Gerrard to carry on playing until he is 40.

The Northern Irishman believes that the 33-year-old Reds captain can follow in the footsteps of Juventus's Andrea Pirlo and Javier Zanetti of Inter Milan and adapt his game to prolong his career.

"Maybe he wasn't ready to do it 18 months ago because he had so much to his game, but it is a position that I know excites him now," The Mirror quotes Rodgers as saying.

"Tactically, once he does more work on when to become the third man dropping in or pushing on, he's got a great chance of playing that role to the level of a Pirlo or a Javier Zanetti.

"They are doing it late in their 30s - Zanetti is 40 - and because of the way Stevie looks after himself, that is a position he can play for sure. It's not a case of putting him back into that role because he's Steven Gerrard - it's because I think he's got the qualities to play and operate in that position at a very high level."

Gerrard has been at Liverpool his entire career.