Featured Image Credit: Sky Sports
Topics: Liverpool, Premier League, Mohamed Salah, Africa Cup Of Nations, Ballon d'Or, Jamie Carragher, Richard Keys
Ben McCrum
Topics: Liverpool, Premier League, Mohamed Salah, Africa Cup Of Nations, Ballon d'Or, Jamie Carragher, Richard Keys
Richard Keys has lashed out at Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher after his controversial comments about Mohamed Salah and the Africa Cup of Nations.
On Sunday, Liverpool took one step closer to claiming the 2024/25 Premier League title with a emphatic win over Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
As has been the case in almost every Liverpool match this season, Salah was on fire, scoring the opener for the visitors and assisting Dominik Szoboszlai to double their lead before half-time.
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After Salah's fantastic performance, pundits post-match questioned if the Egyptian would be worthy of winning this year's Ballon d'Or, but Carragher claimed that he would be held back by playing in the Africa Cup of Nations, leading to outrage online.
The former Liverpool defender claimed that Salah would always be at a disadvantage to other top players hoping to win the Ballon d'Or as he could never win a major international tournament with Egypt.
Fellow pundits Micah Richards and Daniel Sturridge were quick to disagree with their colleague and now former Sky Sports presenter Keys has weighed in.
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"Never mind the PL’s best ever - Mo Salah might just be Liverpool’s best ever - despite the fact he’s never played in a big tournament. Seriously. What ignorance. Unforgivable ignorance," Keys wrote on his personal blog.
Although Keys doesn't explicitly name Carragher in his online rant, it's clear that he is responding to the Liverpool legend's post-match comments about the AFCON.
"Time and again down the years I’ve referenced the arrogance of so-called experts that live and work within the borders of the UK who think nothing beyond their territory matters," Keys added
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"It’s why our WC here in Qatar was dismissed by so many of them - despite it going on to be the best ever - climaxing with the best games of football I’ve ever seen. ‘Qatar?’, they asked. ‘Not England? Why? How could that happen?
"Yeah. Egypt, who’re the most successful team in AFCON history, having won it seven times. Salah hasn’t won it yet - but he gets another chance towards the end of the year. Still - it’s not one of the big tournaments is it? It’s not played in England - or Europe, so it can’t be."
Although Carragher hasn't directly addressed the backlash from Keys and others online, he shared a post from a fan defending him on social media platform X.
The fan wrote: "It was clear that Carra was using it in a relative sense. It’s clearly not comparable to the World Cup, Euros or, to a lesser extent, CA. This is being taken far too seriously."