Rio Ferdinand has been branded ‘bitter’ by Liverpool fans after his comments on the Carabao Cup final.
On Sunday a 120th minute winner from Virgil van Dijk saw Liverpool claim a dramatic 1-0 win over Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.
Liverpool won the game despite the likes of Trent-Alexander Arnold, Mo Salah, Darwin Nunez and Dominik Szoboszlai all being out through injury.
The Reds were instead forced to field a team of youngsters, with Conor Bradley starting at right-back, Harvey Elliott playing the full game and academy players Jayden Danns, James McConnell, Bobby Clark and Jarell Quansah all coming off the bench.
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However, Manchester United legend Ferdinand has been among those attempting to dispel the narrative that Liverpool claimed the victory with youngsters, noting that the average age of the Chelsea line-up was younger.
Ferdinand said on his podcast Vibe with Five: “You know their team was older than Chelsea’s. Age doesn’t lie”.
United YouTuber Stephen Howson added: “Here’s the thing. They started the game with three [homegrown players]. So they were like, ‘We had 11 players missing’. You only started the game with three [homegrown players].
“One of them was Connor Bradley. I’ll give you that. Still an academy player. He’s 20.”
Ferdinand interjected: “He’s not 17 or 18 is he?”
Howson continued: “The other one’s Harvey Elliott. He was signed for £4million? A home-grown academy product who already played in the Premier League before he came to you. You know he’d played in the Premier League twice [at that time].
“He’s played 100 games. Are we still calling that a kid? 100 games. That’s not a rookie. And [Caoimhin] Kelleher, that kid Kelleher, he’s 25.”
Liverpool fans hit back at Ferdinand and Howson’s comments on social media.
One person said on X, formally Twitter: “When you’re in Klopp's presence you’re a little fanboy giggling. You’re just bitter. Last year [winning the Carabao Cup] was the best thing ever for Casemiro and [Raphael] Varane hahahaha but should kids just do it it's nothing special.”
Another said: “It's doing their heads in that Liverpool won.”
A third added: “Who called Kelleher a kid? They are trying to de-legitimise the win because of a comment from Neville.
“The issue is experience, not age. At the end of the 90, Chelsea brought on €100million Mudryk. Liverpool brought on Jayden Danns.”
Topics: Liverpool, Carabao Cup, Rio Ferdinand, Virgil Van Dijk, Manchester United, Jurgen Klopp, Chelsea, Fan Reactions
Chris Byfield