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.
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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.
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”.
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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?”
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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.”
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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