Rio Ferdinand branded a ‘clown’ by Jamie Carragher after wading into AFCON debate
Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has lashed out at Rio Ferdinand after the former Manchester United defender waded into the debate over a controversial comment he made about the Africa Cup of Nations.
Mohamed Salah further strengthened his case for this year’s Ballon d’Or award with another magnificent performance as Liverpool strolled past Manchester City in a 2-0 victory at the Etihad on Sunday.
The result sent the Premier League leaders 11 points clear of Arsenal, who suffered a shock defeat at home to West Ham earlier in the weekend.
Salah was involved in both of Liverpool’s goals against the champions, opening the scoring in the 14th minute before setting up Dominik Szoboszlai to double the visitors’ lead before half-time.
It means Salah has registered a total of 42 goal contributions in the Premier League alone this term and Sky Sports’ panel of pundits fell over themselves to praise the Egypt forward after the final whistle.
But a remark Carragher made relating to AFCON did not sit right with Micah Richards and Daniel Sturridge, with the ex-Liverpool centre-back citing the attacker’s absence from ‘major international tournaments’ as a possible reason he had been overlooked for individual prizes.
‘I think the problem [is] the fact he’s with Egypt, and he’s probably not playing in the major tournament as such or maybe got a great chance of winning [the Ballon d’Or],’ Carragher said.
Carragher suggested AFCON was not a ‘major international tournament’
‘I think it’s either the Champions League or the major tournament… normally, the player who excels in that, like Vini Jr and Kylian Mbappe right now, Real Madrid look really good going for the Champions League. Liverpool will be in that conversation too.
‘Right now he [Salah] is certainly the front runner.
‘If he gets more trophies and titles, that could put him above Kenny Dalglish and Steven Gerrard in terms of where he ranks in Liverpool legends because right now he’s right on their shoulders.’
Ex-Manchester City and England star Richards immediately pulled Carragher up on the comment, replying: ‘I’ll just say, AFCON is a major tournament. A lot of people at home will say they’re taking that seriously. AFCON is a major tournament, just so you know.’
But Carragher chimed in again, arguing: ‘Egypt are not going to win the World Cup are they?’, to which Richards replied: ‘No, but AFCON is big. Remember when him and [Sadio] Mane was going for it.’
This prompted Carragher to mutter under his breath, ‘Oh my god’, with Richards responding: ‘I’m just saying.’
The heated debate drew a strong reaction among football fans on social media, with some hitting out at Carragher for his ‘flippant’ and ‘incredibly disappointing’ remarks.
Ferdinand offered his own personal take on the latest episode of Rio Ferdinand Presents, branding his former England team-mate ‘ignorant’ and posting a clip of the conversation on his Instagram page.
‘I think that comment is representative of the majority of people out there. I don’t think that’s right,’ Ferdinand said.
‘I think that’s an ignorant thought process because if you go to Didier Drogba, Abedi Pele, Samuel Eto’o and down to the players now like Riyad Mahrez, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane now, they will tell you: “We have to win this!”
‘It’s a demand in their countries to win this. Yes, it doesn’t get backed resources-wise like a Euros etcetera, but that doesn’t mean that you have to devalue it.
‘It’s continent of huge power and a continent that contributes to European football through players immensely, massively.’
Carragher called Ferdinand a ‘clown’ in a reply to his Instagram video
The video has garnered a huge amount of traction on Ferdinand’s social media channels, with the post racking up over 400 replies and 6,000 likes at the time of writing.
Among those replies was a less-than-impressed Carragher, who commented: ‘I didn’t say that you clown, stop playing to the gallery like you always do.’
Carragher also took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to clarify his position, stressing that he meant no ‘disrespect’, before sending his best wishes to Salah.
‘The point I was trying to make yesterday was that Mo Salah is at a disadvantage playing for Egypt in terms of him winning the Ballon d’Or. If Salah had an average season at LFC but won the AFCON & was MVP I don’t think he would win the Ballon d’Or,’ he tweeted.
‘Because I don’t think AFCON carries the weight of other tournaments. But if Mbappe had an average season at Real Madrid but won the World Cup/Euros he would still have a great opportunity.
‘It’s not just about certain tournaments, [Andriy] Shevchenko (Ukraine) and [Robert] Lewandowski (Poland) were never going to win the WC/Euros to help their case for the prize. I don’t think it’s controversial at all really it’s just a fact.
‘I know Mane came 2nd a few years back after winning the tournament but that alone wouldn’t have got him to that position, it was LFC being two games away from a quadruple that played a big role also.
‘It’s not disrespectful if I feel the WC/Euros/CP are better tournaments it’s just my opinion when I watch them. Saying it wasn’t a major competition was clumsy but I think most people watching could understand the point I was trying to make.
‘The face I pulled when Micah interjected was nothing to do with the merits of the tournament, I just knew as soon as he did what the reaction was going to be! I get a lot people didn’t like what I said & that’s fine.
‘I don’t normally respond to things on here with posts like this but I decided to tweet in the end after seeing so many phoneys jumping on the bandwagon & playing to the gallery when they knew what I meant. Good luck MO you little dancer.’