Jamie Carragher has addressed AFCON and Mo Salah criticism in first TV appearance since comments

Jamie Carragher has addressed his comments about Mo Salah and the Africa Cup of Nations in his first TV appearance since the controversy.

After Liverpool picked up 2-0 win over Manchester City on 23 February, the Sky Sports panel were discussed Salah's push to finally get his hands on a Ballon d'Or.

Salah is enjoying the best season of his career, with 30 goals and 22 assists in all competitions.

But Carragher caused a stir when he replied to a point made by Daniel Sturridge and said: "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 not got a great chance of winning, I think it's either the Champions League or the major tournament."

Micah Richards interjected, stating: "Just to say, AFCON [Africa Cup of Nations] is a major tournament. Because a lot of people are at home saying, 'They aren't taking it serious'. AFCON is a big tournament, just so you know."

Carragher replied by asking Richards if seven-time AFCON winners Egypt would be a contender to win the World Cup but his facial expression and tone was what caused major offence to many.

Many African legends such as John Obi Mikel and Jay Jay Okocha weighed in with their say, aiming strong digs at Carragher after what they perceived to be "disrespect".

In addition, former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand claimed the Liverpool legend adopted an "ignorant thought process" - which led to him being called a "clown" by Carragher on Instagram.

After reposting a comment from someone else on his page, Carragher broke his silence with a statement in a series of posts on his official X account.

But on Tuesday night, in an appearance on CBS Sports' Golazo alongside Richards, Thierry Henry and Kate Abdo, Carragher attempted to clarify the point he was trying to make and acknowledged his language as "clumsy".

"What I would say is you know me better than anyone on this show and I’ve got very strong opinions on the game, I love debate and that will never change," Carragher began.

“But what I never want to be described as as a pundit would be ignorant or disrespectful, so that was never my aim, whether that's to a club, a player, a country, a continent, an international tournament, whatever that may be.

“What I would say is, where I got it wrong was I was clumsy with my language, in describing AFCON as not a major tournament.

"I was trying to explain the merits of Mo Salah winning the Ballon d’Or and I felt, or feel, that not just AFCON, but the Asia Games or Gold Cup, not so much the Copa America, but there are five more competitions out there besides the World Cup that are for their continent a major tournament.

“Some of them don’t resonate with people who vote for the Ballon d’Or and that was not an opinion, that was a fact in terms of looking at who won the Ballon d’Or over the last 40 or 50 years.”

Finishing up, Carragher said he did not mean to cause any offence and will be more careful going forward with how he approaches subjects, adding: "I should’ve been a lot tidier with my language around that so yes that’s something I’ll look at.

“But you look at the Euros, where it’s at right now and the competitions and some of them resonate with the Ballon d’Or voters whether that be journalists, managers, national captains.“One of the reasons might be because, let’s not forget, the Ballon d’Or was the European footballer of the year, so maybe there is a bias towards the Euros or European football.

“It definitely is not my aim to offend people, I know I’ve done that in the past in different guises about different players or teams, but that was certainly not the case, and hopefully now that’s addressed it.”

Salah is the bookmakers' favourite for this year's gong and could become the first African to win the Ballon d'Or since George Weah of Liberia in 1995.

Salah's highest-ever Ballon d'Or ranking is fifth, which he achieved in 2019 and 2022. In the latter year, former Reds teammate Sadio Mane finished second to Karim Benzema after beating Salah's Egypt to win the AFCON with Senegal.