Hazrat Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated:
“During the lifetime of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, we considered Abu Bakr as peerless, and then Umar, and then Uthman (coming next to him in superiority); then we never used to differentiate between the companions of the Prophet.”
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab Fazail al-Nabi)