Who would you rather have: Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard or Michael Ballack? | Extra Time

Let's get straight to it, gentlemen. Frank, Lampard, Gerrard or Baluk? Who would you first pick? I would pick Frank Lampard. Because what he did when he came to Chelsea was absolutely fantastic. I played against him when he was playing for West Ham and he wasn't the Lampard that I'd seen after that. Gerrard, I played a little bit against him, like two or three seasons, and he was already fantastic. But Lampard, I mean, that was absolutely fantastic what he did with his career and what he won. So Lampard, for sure. And Chelsea TV are inevitably going to say that. Shaka, a little bit of, maybe, objectivity in this. Lampard, Gerrard or Baluk? I'm not sure how objective I am, but I'm going to go with Steven Gerrard. Listen, I understand the comparisons, and in all honesty, it's a close race between Gerrard and Lampard for me. And in many respects, I think Gerrard got the short end of the stick, particularly when you think about the England national team. But for me, I don't know. I think Frank probably had a better goal-scoring ratio, but I thought Gerrard could give you a bit more all over the field. Who scored more against you, Shaq? Lampard or Gerrard? I have no idea. I have no idea. I played with Frank Lampard. I played with Frank for a huge portion of my career, so probably Gerrard by numbers, because he played more games against me, I'm going to go with. Frank, what's the most embarrassing thing you've done on a football pitch? Well, I gave a fantastic ball, fantastic assist to Ronaldinho when I played for Marseille, I was the captain of Marseille, and we played the Clasico, which is normally the biggest game we play at home in Marseille, and we were already losing 1-0. And I tried to put the ball over Ronaldinho, but I put it straight to his leg, and he went straight to the goal and scored and killed the game. Very embarrassing, very much. Shaq? Well, in footballing terms, and this comes to mind because I saw a Portsmouth Post about it recently, Patrick Berger scored this incredible goal away to Charlton to bring us 1-1, and then I conceded what I think is the softest goal of my career. I mean, Patrick's goal was a contender for goal of the season, and I let in what was easily the easiest of goals. There was another time, though, more embarrassingly, I guess, playing, and this was when I used to play in the States, then you were allowed to go off and come back on. I needed a bathroom break during the course of one game and had to be substituted to attend to matters to be brought back on to finish off the game. That's kind of up there with that. Lovely, Shaqo. That's very enjoyable. Frank, who would your best centre-back partner be who's currently playing? Who would you choose? Well, there is no question I would pick the best, Virgil van Dijk. It would be a pleasure and a fantastic help to be alongside him. Fantastic player. I appreciate the guy, I appreciate the character, I appreciate everything on him, so, yeah, it would be fantastic. Let's talk Germans. Shaqo, Kahn, Lehmann or Neuer? What was your first name? Oliver Kahn. Lehmann is the third in that list. Kahn was just more orthodox and far more focused, I think, than Neuer was and continues to be. I think Oliver Kahn rightly won the best of all time. You go with Kahn as well, Frank? Yes, I already said in that show that I had the chance to have Fabien Barthez in the national team and we played against Germany one day in Stade de France and Fabien Barthez was just named best goalkeeper in the world, I think, and I came to see Kahn to say that I was really fond of him, that he was a fantastic goalkeeper, he was like the son of Sepp Maier. I loved the character of the guy, I loved his experience and the way that he was performing, so, yeah, I would go with Oliver Kahn as well. Frank, is it a coincidence that you and Marcel Desailly seem to follow each other around throughout your careers? You both played for Marseille, Chelsea, the French national team and ended your careers in Qatar. Oh, that's true, I never thought about it. I wish I would have the same trophies that he has in his place. I never played for Milan and when Milan was maybe the best team in the world, it's mostly that I followed him in Marseille and he followed me in Chelsea for different reasons. I think it was an experience for me to come to Chelsea and it was kind of a confirmation of his career when he signed for the same club. Different perspective, I think Marcel Desailly has a fantastic career and I would never compare mine to his because he was, I guess, maybe at the time the best central defender in the world, especially in 1998. Right then, Shaka. What was the hardest part about moving to a new country to play football? Well, moving to England was tough because I was young and I went to Reading back in 1992, so that was a huge upheaval. The move from England to the States was a lot easier. At this point, I had all but played all of my career, I knew that my career was coming to a very quick end and I knew and understood soccer in the U.S., culture in the U.S. and, albeit in Texas, I had some experience of living in an American race, so that wasn't as tough. What did you hate about England, Shaka, when you went there? Sorry? What did you hate about England? What did I like about it or dislike it? What did you hate about it? Well, the weather, for starters, throughout and especially, even later in my career, going back to Trinidad to play the national team, every time you're flying to Heathrow, somehow it's covered in clouds and it's grey and it's raining. That never got easy or any easier over the years. But moving to 1992, like I say, I left the U.S. with a space of $100 in my pocket to go on trial at a third division club of English football and really didn't know what I was doing, what I was letting myself in for. Nobody knew who I was. That was tough. I didn't know anybody there. That was tough. Professional. What about you, Frank? For me, it was quite easy. It was fantastic for me coming from Strasbourg to come to Chelsea and then after I went to Qatar to finish my career. I'm curious. I like discovering cultures and it wasn't very difficult for me to settle down and I was always very happy to change and move even when I came to Los Angeles. Even if it wasn't for football, it was a pleasure to come over. It's true that I left England after five years because, like Shaka, I was fed up with the forecast and with the weather. It was unbearable at the end of the day when you have a day off and you say, OK, I'm going to play golf and the time you take your shower and you have the rain, so it's impossible. I say, OK, bye-bye. I have to go. Final question, Frank. Who's the best midfielder that you ever played with? Oh, my God. I played with so many fantastic guys. I can name a few. Di Matteo, Zola, Zidane, Emmanuel Petit, Patrick Vieira. Well, no, I'm sorry. It's a question I can't really answer because Didier Deschamps, Dennis Wise, it's impossible for me to answer. It's so many fantastic midfield players. I would say Zola because Zola is the guy who amazed me the most when I saw him playing throughout the season that I played with him. So I will pick the little boy, Gianfranco Zola, let's say. Zola ahead of Zidane. Yeah, well, Zizou is Zizou and everybody knows Zizou and of course it was a real honour and pleasure to play alongside him. But I played and I saw Gianfranco Zola training every day, playing week in, week out. For Chelsea, I know better football-wise but also man-wise, Gianfranco Zola and that guy is 100% a fantastic person. So if you allow me, I pick Gianfranco. So Zidane's not a fantastic person, Frank? I don't know enough Zidane to say he's a fantastic person. You're really a journalist right now. No, Zizou is a great person. Frank Le Peuf hates Zinedine Zidane. That's what we learned here today. Thank you very much. We will be back tomorrow for more. Be sure to join us. Seven days a week, subscribe to ESPN+.