Joe Hart believes that Manchester City teammate Sergio Aguero eclipses even Barcelona star Lionel Messi as the best striker he has ever faced.
Messi described Hart as a "phenomenon" following the goalkeeper's recent performance when the two came up against each other in the Champions League.
Hart managed to restrict Barcelona to just one goal at the Camp Nou in their round-of-16 second leg clash last week, making a string of saves that kept the score down to 1-0 prevented the tie from being settled long before the final whistle.
And Luis Suarez, who scored twice against Hart for Uruguay at the World Cup last year, was also moved to embrace the England No. 1 after he brilliantly saved Neymar's shot at the death.
But despite coming up against three of the world's top forwards in that tie, and joking last year that his teammate was "rubbish" in training, Hart believes his hardest job is stopping Aguero on a daily basis at City.
"Messi is absolutely awesome, but I'm backing Sergio because he's my player," Hart told a news conference ahead of England's Euro 2016 qualifier against Lithuania. "Just working with him on a daily basis and, from what I've seen this season, the best is probably Aguero. He just knows how to score.
"We've got a good team, but in training he excites you most days and he's also got that ability on the day to do it. He's got the skill to turn a long clearance into a goal because he's got that ability to take it round five people and score. It's a great thing to have.
"Sergio is a very natural player and in a one-on-one situation there is nothing complicated about it. He takes that option to score."
When asked if the performance had worked wonders his for confidence Hart, who is set to win his 50th senior cap over the next week, said: "Yes, definitely.
"It was a good night for me personally, making saves against some of the best players in the world.
"You've got to believe in what you're doing, be strong in what you do and stuff like that [performance against Barca] isn't going to harm it.
"They [Messi and Suarez] are human beings and appreciate that I was making a lot of good saves."
However, the 27-year-old questioned when Messi's words when they were put to him.
"I would like to see how he worded it. I'm pretty sure it wasn't quite as simply as that," he said.
"He was obviously asked about the game and he has to make comments so I am not going to get too carried away with it. He is a fantastic player and for him to comment on me is great but I'm not getting carried away."
Information from the Press Association was used in this report.