El-Hadji Diouf slams former team-mate Steven Gerrard in new book and compares himself to legendary Diego Maradona

Sport360 staff 12:29 27/06/2017
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  • Heated: Diouf and Gerrard didn't see eye-to-eye.

    Former Liverpool striker El-Hadji Diouf has reopened his long-running feud with former captain Steven Gerrard after claiming the midfielder “did nothing for his country”.

    The ex- Senegal international, whose dire spell at Anfield saw him score just six goals in 80 appearances, has history with Gerrard stretching back to 2007 when the Reds skipper criticised him in his autobiography.

    Diouf has since launched regular attacks, with his latest claiming he is “bigger” than his former captain.

    “I have no problem with him. He is a strong character and I am a strong character,” the 36-year-old told the BBC.

    “‘Stevie G’ was a very good player. People like him in Liverpool, but he never did anything for his country.

    “I am Mr El Hadji Diouf, Mr Senegal, but he is Mr Liverpool and Senegal is bigger than Liverpool and he has to know that.”

    Diouf’s stint in English football was controversial.

    Diouf is not fondly remembered for his time in British football – he had spells at Bolton, Sunderland, Blackburn, Rangers, Doncaster and Leeds – and is best known for spitting at opponents and, on one occasion, a Celtic fan.

    Asked about those incidents he said: “Maybe they used to tell me something I didn’t want to hear. I did that, I paid and now it’s finished.”

    The feud between Diouf and Gerrard began a decade ago when Gerrard wrote that he “wasn’t Diouf’s number 1 fan”.

    “I knew which players were hungry, which players had Liverpool at heart. Diouf was just interested in himself. His attitude was all wrong,” said Gerrard.

    Diouf, who starred for Senegal at the 2002 World Cup – helping the relatively unknown nation reach the last eight of the tournament, also said his achievements with his country were on a par with Diego Maradona’s World Cup-winning exploits in 1986.

    The two-time African Player of the Year says that tournament was his career highlight and he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the Argentine – particularly after helping his team defeat defending champions France en-route to the quarter-finals.

    He said: “We put Senegal on the world map. Before the World Cup nobody knew Senegal, but after the World Cup everybody wanted to know where Senegal was.

    “What Maradona did for his country is what I did for Senegal. I was one of the biggest men at the 2002 World Cup.”

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