Steven Gerrard: Liverpool legend was slammed by El-Hadji Diouf live on TV | OneFootball

El-Hadji Diouf certainly isn’t the most popular figure among Liverpool supporters.

The Senegalese forward earned a move to Merseyside in the summer of 2002 after his standout performances at that year’s World Cup in South Korea and Japan.

Liverpool paid around £12 million for his services, but they certainly didn’t get value for their investment.

In 79 appearances across all competitions for the Merseyside outfit, Diouf scored only six goals – a woeful return for a forward.

As well as failing to impress on the pitch as a player, the often-controversial Diouf never really speaks glowingly about his time at Liverpool since departing.

And in November of 2016, he took aim at Steven Gerrard live on French TV.

On the day the Liverpool legend announced his retirement from football, Diouf didn’t hold back one bit.

Diouf is not a fan of Gerrard

Speaking about Gerrard and Jamie Carragher on SFR Sport, he 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.

“When I arrived I showed [Gerrard] 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.”

Diouf was sat next to Arsenal icon Emmanuel Petit in the studio and the Frenchman intervened by using the 2005 Champions League final as a way to defend Gerrard’s legacy.

Petit’s intervention didn’t silence Diouf

But when the 1998 World Cup winner couldn’t remember what year Gerrard produced his famous heroics against AC Milan in Istanbul, Diouf couldn’t resist have another dig.

“Here is the proof, even you cannot remember,” the former Bolton Wanderers man said. “You are talking about Euros and World Cup. Today I owe you respect [Petit], I owe respect to Mr [Zinedine] Zidane because you did win the World Cup.”

Petit then interrupted Diouf again, quipping:  “I cannot let you say that about Steven Gerrard, he was an immense player.”

Unsurprisingly, that prompted Diouf to go on another rant about Gerrard…

Diouf doesn’t respect Gerrard as a man

Diouf replied to Petit: “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.

“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.”

Check out footage of the TV segment:

Yeah, Diouf is certainly not part of the Gerrard fan club and if he chooses to revisit Anfield in the near future, we can’t imagine he’ll receive a warm welcome.