El-Hadji Diouf: I showed Gerrard he was nothing when I arrived at Liverpool

El-Hadji Diouf: I showed Gerrard he was nothing when I arrived at Liverpool

Disgraced former Liverpool striker El-Hadji Diouf has taken another swing at Steven Gerrard following the legendary midfielder’s retirement yesterday.

Gerrard officially announced his retirement from professional football yesterday and has been met with adulation from around the footballing world, with legends from all corners of the game paying respect.

The former midfielder was a titan of the European game with Liverpool, helping them win the Champions League in 2005, and he’s been praised by the likes of Kaka, Javier Zanetti and Lionel Messi.

However, one former player was not too kind with his words as Diouf as he claims he showed Gerrard that he was “nothing” to him.

Speaking on French television channel SFR Sport, the 35-year-old said: “People told me at Liverpool, there was some guys you could not touch, but I touched them. That is why it was complicated for me.”

Emmanuel Petit, a fellow guest on the programme, asked: “Are you talking about Steven Gerrard?”

To which Diouf replied: “I am. Stevie G and Jamie Carragher, the two scousers.

“When I arrived I showed him he was nothing at all. He was nothing at all. I asked him to tell me in which big competition, Euros or World Cup, people think about him.”

Petit then said that he couldn’t let Diouf talk about Gerrard in that manner, before the ex-striker continued.

“I repeat. I respect the player, very big player, but the man, I do not respect. And I told him, I let him know that,” he said.

“With all my respect I let him know. For me in Liverpool, he was not just a player like anyone else. He had to work and play his football as I had to work and play my football.

“Then as you know, there were some brown-nosers, who went to the manager to repeat what I said. That was the real problem. When Gerrard did that, we had an argument, like real men.

“That is why he does not like me. He knows I say what I think, that when it is not right, no problem, I am up for it. He could not, he was afraid of looking into my eyes. He was afraid of talking to me. Let’s not forget when I arrived I did not ask for his shirt. He asked for my Senegal shirt for one of his mates.”

Diouf joined Liverpool for £10 million from Lens after the World Cup in 2002 and is famously the only number nine in the club’s history to go a full season without scoring a single goal.

He left in disgrace after he was spotted spitting at a Celtic fan during a Uefa Cup tie with the Scottish giants.

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