The former England teammates strongly disagreed over a VAR decision during Inter Milan’s 2-0 victory over AC Milan in Wednesday’s UCL semi-final derby.
Jamie Carragher branded Rio Ferdinand a ‘clown’ after hearing the ex-defender argued that Inter should’ve had a penalty in the club’s 2-0 Champions League win over AC Milan.
The incident in question occurred on Wednesday evening at San Siro. Lautaro Martinez went down inside the box, prompting a penalty call for Inter. But after a VAR review showed AC Milan’s Simon Kjaer only made slight contact with the striker, the referee, Jesus Gil, overturned the spot-kick decision.
It was a call that pleased Carragher, although his old Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard and Ferdinand didn’t agree. The latter even said he was ‘100%’ certain Inter should’ve had a penalty on BT Sport.
“I think anyone out there who is watching the replay, seeing what VAR do and still believe that is a penalty, they must be a clown,” Carragher said on CBS Sports.
“Rio Ferdinand, I’m happy to call him a clown…” 🤡@Carra23 defends Stevie G, but throws Rio under the bus. 😂 pic.twitter.com/iJhKTHV2l0
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) May 10, 2023
‘I’m happy to call him a clown’
In turn, fellow pundits Thierry Henry and Micah Richards shared stunned expressions to Carragher’s bold declaration, while CBS host Kate Abdo quipped in: “Who [are] you calling a clown, Jamie?”
CBS then showed a replay of Gerrard’s overview of the penalty decision, prompting Carragher to reply: “He was an attacking player, wasn’t he? He was liable a little bit to go down himself under a little bit of contact – always contact, never a dive. I can understand where he’s coming from.
“When players in my position who were defenders – other defenders, English defenders – who are commentating on the game… I can understand attackers thinking it was a penalty if you [Henry] did, and Stevie was an attacker.
“Maybe he felt there was a little bit of contact. But as a defender, we have to stick together, don’t we? And I just felt people were getting a little bit carried away thinking it was a penalty.”
When Richards asked him to name somebody, Carragher replied: “Rio Ferdinand. I’m happy to call him a clown.”
“File:Football against poverty 2014 – Jamie Carragher.jpg” by Ludovic Péron is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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