The latest war of words between Liverpool icon Jamie Carragher and his former England teammate Rio Ferdinand has erupted, following Carragher's contentious remarks regarding the Africa Cup of Nations.

What Jamie's saying, and he's right, if Salah won AFCON, it would have no bearing on anyone's voting on the Ballon d'Or and that's wrong, that was one of the parts he was arguing about."

Ferdinand shared a clip of the video on Instagram and Carragher replied: "I didn't say that you clown, stop playing to the gallery like you always do." In response, Ferdinand said: "You've had a bad couple a weeks...



But it was Ferdinand who bore the brunt of Carragher's criticism because he was a defender, whereas Gerrard was 'an attacking player'.

Inside Jamie Carragher vs Rio Ferdinand: AFCON row, 'clown' digs, Cristiano Ronaldo spat	Rio Ferdinand branded a ‘clown’ by Jamie Carragher after wading into AFCON debate	Jamie Carragher labels Rio Ferdinand 'a clown' in angry response to 'ignorant' remark

"I think anyone out there who is watching the replay and seeing what VAR do and still believe that is a penalty, they must be a clown," Carragher commented on CBS Sports.

He used to carry my boots when we were with England, he always showed me love." In response, Carragher tweeted a meme of former Sky Sports presenter Richard Keys casually remarking 'it was just banter'.

Liverpool vs Man Utd reaction

After Liverpool thrashed United 7-0 at Anfield earlier in the season, Ferdinand criticised Carragher, Graeme Souness, and the Liverpool squad for what he perceived as 'small club mentality', especially after their subsequent 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth?

Rio Ferdinand quickly joined the fray via Twitter, defending Ronaldo's record with a sharp retort to Carragher: "Carragher, stop arguing about league titles with a man that's won multiple league titles

Amidst struggles to manage Ronaldo, the Portuguese star was benched during United's crushing 6-3 defeat to Manchester City.

Ten Hag cited 'respect' for Ronaldo's storied career as the reason, a move that Carragher saw as justified, but Ferdinand disagreed, insisting that Ronaldo, even at 37, deserved to be on the field.

After Ferdinand posted a video explaining his viewpoint, Carragher responded: 'Rio I know how it works, he's your mate and you/[Patrice] Evra and the rest are on the group WhatsApp and he asks you to come out and defend him, don't be his fan boy you're Rio Ferdinand for FFS!"

" In response, Ferdinand brushed off the allegations, suggesting that Carragher needed to show the same assertiveness on TV when stronger personalities - such as Keane - were present
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