Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has praised Luis Suarez's wife for the role she has played in helping her husband improve his on-field behaviour.

The Reds manager thinks that Suarez's wife Sofia offers his player the "great stability" that has enabled him to flourish on the pitch this season.

Rodgers is quoted as saying by the Daily Mail: "She's a great woman and offers him great stability in his life, and tells him straight and direct. She loves Liverpool, she loves the city, she loves the camaraderie with the other players' wives. So she's a real pillar in his life.

"They've been together for a long time. Luis travelled across the world to find her again. It's an incredible story. She left Uruguay and went to Barcelona with her parents. He wanted to move to Europe so he would have the chance to meet up with her again.

"When he went to Holland, he was only 17 and had gone to Groningen, he asked the coach for a few days off. On those days off, he travelled to Barcelona to go and get her, to bring her back, and they've been together ever since."

Suarez, who won the PFA Player of the Year award on Sunday, has scored 30 goals this term.