Lukaku: I need Champions League platform to match Suarez

Everton striker Romelu Lukaku says he needs the "platform" of Champions League football in the near future if he is to match the likes of Luis Suarez and Robert Lewandowski.

Lukaku has scored 17 Premier League goals this season ahead of Sunday's home match against Tottenham and is on the brink of signing a new contract with the club, his present deal due to expire in 2019.

The Belgium international was asked how he compared to the likes of Barcelona star Suarez and Bayern Munich's Lewandowski and felt they had an advantage by showcasing their skills in the continental competition.

"It is difficult to compare at the moment," he said to Sky Sports, in an interview with ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher.

"They have the Champions League platform to show themselves. Those are the top games where I need to show people I belong to them too.

"I need a platform where I can show myself constantly in the big games because now I am scoring over the last five or six seasons all the time in the Premier League.

"I consider myself one of the best strikers in this league, 100 per cent, but I want to show it as well on the biggest stage in the near future."

The 23-year-old equalled Duncan Ferguson's record as Everton's top Premier League goalscorer in his last appearance against Sunderland and feels his mentality has improved.

Lukaku continued: "Every striker has to have that edge. When they are not scoring or when the team is losing, they explode.

"I think I have it more and more lately. When people used to talk to me about that and say, 'Rom doesn't play with passion'.

"I do but I don't show it too much because in my mind I'm a guy that thinks a lot about how to win the game. Sometimes I let the emotions just come now and it helps me."