COBHAM, United Kingdom: Jose Mourinho has paid tribute to Steven Gerrard ahead of the Liverpool midfielder’s final visit to Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Gerrard and his Reds teammates are expected to provide a guard of honor for Mourinho’s Chelsea side after the London club secured the Premier League title last weekend.

But Mourinho said Friday that the match would also provide him with an opportunity to recognize Gerrard’s career at Liverpool which will come to a close at the end of the season when the former England captain joins LA Galaxy in the United States’ Major League Soccer.

The Chelsea manager admitted he tried to sign Gerrard on four different occasions at three different clubs but was denied by the player’s unstinting loyalty to Liverpool.

Friday saw the Portuguese boss say he was more concerned about acknowledging Gerrard, who has never won the Premier League title, than he was about Liverpool honoring his team.

“Liverpool is a giant club and if they want to do that (provide a guard of honor) my players will accept with respect,” Mourinho told a news conference at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground.

“But speaking about Liverpool and honoring the champions, it is my time to honor the champion.

“It’s my time to honor Steve Gerrard and say with opponents like him that I am the manager I am. I learn with my players and my best opponents.

“Steven Gerrard is for sure one of my favorite enemies and for sure my dear enemy, the one who made me a better manager,” he explained.

“I need people like him to make me a better coach.”

Drawing comparisons with Frank Lampard’s departure from Chelsea at the end of last season, Mourinho said: “I am sad he is leaving the same as our Frank Lampard, but Frank is a Chelsea legend and it’s a different situation because Steven was always on the other side.

“I tried to bring him (Gerrard) to Chelsea, I tried to bring him to Inter, I tried to bring him to Real Madrid but he was always with the enemy. I want to honor him and I hope Stamford Bridge has the same feeling.

“It’s too late to sign him,” lamented Mourinho.

“He can’t play against Liverpool, he refused to play in other big clubs, other big leagues to play only for Liverpool.

“Who knows, I play against Steven as a Liverpool manager someday?“