Jamie Carragher vs Mohamed Salah: Every crossed word ever said as Liverpool feud explodes

FT Desk

• Updated: 9 Dec 2025 08:00 CST
• 11 min read

Analysis

It is looking increasingly likely that Mohamed Salah has played his final game for Liverpool.

The Egyptian superstar has been the club's talismanic forward for nearly a decade but he is set to leave Anfield on an extremely sour note after an explosive outburst at the weekend.

Following the 3-3 draw against Leeds, which saw Salah on the bench for the third game in a row, he approached the media mixed zone and accused the club of throwing him under the bus and breaking promises. He believes he is being made a scapegoat for the club's troubles this campaign.

His comments led to an exclusion from the squad to face Inter in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Salah himself put the spotlight on Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher, whom he suspects holds a grudge against him. There was plenty of expectancy as viewers tuned in to Monday Night Football and Carragher didn't disappoint as he went into a lengthy rant about the current Liverpool star.

However, before we get to those comments below, let's look at other things Carragher has said about Salah over the past year...

Carragher fights back after Liverpool fans slam pundit over Salah stance

Back in December of 2024, Carragher risked the ire of Liverpool fans when he said Chelsea's Cole Palmer had been the best player in the Premier League over the previous 18 months.

“I loved Palmer last season and he’s started this season really well. If you look at his 18 months at Chelsea, I don’t think there’s been a player in the Premier League that’s performed better than him,” Carragher said 12 months ago.

“He hasn’t been playing for the best team. When you think of Chelsea’s flair players, you think of Zola and Hazard – I think he’s got more than Zola. And Zola is going to go down as one of the greatest players in the history of Chelsea.”

Liverpool fans took exception to his comments and attacked Carragher on social media, with some claiming that he “hates” Salah and others claiming that the former Anfield defender is “trying too hard”.

Another chipped in: “This is just plain weird from Carra now he’s so neeky with his agendas.”

One more said: “Never thought I'd EVER be saying this but I actually hate Carragher

“Was always a s*** defender and we backed him throughout his career. But in recent months he's been very critical of LFC and that's a no go.”

Carragher was clearly frustrated by the comments and in particular those who took his words out of context.

“Maybe you try harder at putting the full quote out!” he said. “I said he’s been the best player over 18 months which he has in my eyes.

“And you probably know I said that but your desperation for likes & retweets knows no bounds!! Your account is so bad, please stop following me.

He added via a reply: “These people are the oracle now on the game! Couldn’t kick a ball down marsh lane but they KNOW the game better than anyone!”

Carragher criticises Salah over Liverpool contract comments

December, 2024:

“Salah is reportedly on about £350,000 to £400,000 a week, and good luck to him, he deserves it, he’s one of the best players in the world and should be paid that,” he told the Stick to Football podcast live in Manchester.

“But if you come out and say that the club haven’t done this and the club haven’t done that, then give us all the story and we can then we can decide what side we’re on.

“When you talk about letting a player get to this stage of their career, we all get to that stage when you’re 32 or 33, and no-one comes to you with 18 months to go talking about a new deal. My point is that we know they’re in discussions, he did this two years ago where he tried to put pressure on the club.

“He’s a world-renowned superstar and I’m desperate for him to stay, but I’m looking at it from the club’s point of view where we don’t know who’s in the right or wrong. If you want to put something out there that the club haven’t offered you a contract, then tell us what you want, be transparent and we can then all pick sides.

“Me personally, I think he should stay on the same amount of money and give him a two-year deal. Now, the club might be offering him one year and he might want three - we don’t know what it is. I’ve tried to get information from the club because I knew I’d be asked about it, but they’re not giving anything away.”

Salah actually struck back at this one, tweeting: “I’m starting to think you’re obsessed with me.”

Carragher took the response in good spirits, replying to Salah with the following: “I’ve always been obsessed with you @MoSalah. Hopefully that obsession will continue next season.”

Carragher supports Salah, says team-mates need to help more

In February of 2025, Carragher name checked two players that he believed at the time needed to contribute more to the team as they were too heavily reliant on the goals of the Egyptian.

“I don’t think it’s a negative this season, but if Mo Salah is to sign, which we all hope he is, more often than not he gets 20-25 goals. I think this season he could be getting 30-35.,” Carragher said.

“Actually, he if he does sign, you think of next season, then you need more from the players I’ve just highlighted. They do a lot for the team, Dominik Szoboszlai and Luis Diaz. When you look at Szoboszlai, he has five goals and assists. I need more from that position.

“Mo Salah, if he does sign (a new contract), I don’t think he’ll get these kind of numbers again in the next one or two seasons – this is one of those seasons that we’ll all remember.”

The weekend it all exploded

After the 3-3 draw versus Leeds on Saturday, where he was benched again, Salah said: "I can't believe it, I'm very disappointed. I've done so much for this club. Everyone can see that over the years, especially last season. To be on the bench - I don't know why. I feel like the club is throwing me under the bus. That's how I feel."

Asked about Liverpool manager Arne Slot, Salah said: "I have said many times before that I have a good relationship with the coach. Suddenly, we don't have a relationship. I don't know why.

"It's not acceptable to me, to be honest," he added. "I don't know why it always happens to me. 'We throw Mo under the bus, because he's the problem.' I don't think I'm the problem.

"To me, it seems like someone doesn't want me at the club," he posited. "This club has always supported my children. I love the club so much. I always will.

"I called my mother yesterday, you [the press] didn't know I wasn't going to start today, but I knew it. I said, 'Come to the Brighton game [on 13 December], it doesn't matter if I play or not, I'm going to enjoy it.

"We'll see what happens, in my mind, I'm going to enjoy it anyway, because I don't know what's going to happen [in January]. The game will be at Anfield, so that will be my goodbye before I go to AFCON."

Salah signed a two-year contract extension earlier this year, but it seems that he is contemplating a departure. "The club made a lot of promises this summer, so far, I've been benched three games in a row. You can't say they've kept their promises," he thundered.

It was time for Carragher's retort on Monday Night Football, and he didn't hold anything back...

“I thought it was a disgrace what he did after the game," Carragher said of Salah's interview.

“Some people have painted it as an emotional outburst. I don’t think it was. I think whenever Mo Salah stops in a mixed zone, which he’s done four times in eight years at Liverpool, it’s choreographed with him and his agent to cause maximum damage and strengthen his own position.

“He did that 12 months ago, and I called him out on this show about it. He played on the heartstrings of the supporters. Liverpool were top of the league. He’d scored the winning goal at Southampton. That was the time to come out and put pressure on the ownership. So for the rest of the season, you’d have banners in the crowd: ‘Give Mo his dough!’

MO Salah contract talks 😬 #LIVARS

pic.twitter.com/MUMnmrsrym

— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) January 13, 2022

“He’s chosen this weekend to do this now, and he’s waited, I think, for a bad result for Liverpool. They conceded a last-minute goal. Everyone in the club feels like they’re in the gutter at the moment. And he’s chosen that time to go for the manager. He’s trying to get him sacked, that’s the way I felt about it.

“The one line that stands out for me is: “Thrown under the bus.” He’s tried to throw the club under the bus twice in the last 12 months with the situations I’ve just mentioned.

“Going after the owners initially – owners who have been paying him hundreds of thousands of pounds for six years – he’s complained a year ago because they’ve not given him a contract at the age of 32.

“With the manager right now, he should be doing as much as he can to get out the worst run of results they can since the 1950s, and he hasn’t done that.

“When I thought about it over the weekend, and I put myself in his position or put myself in Mo Salah’s position, I’m not Mo Salah. Mo Salah is a world-renowned player, who is famous around the world, and should those players be treated differently? I think they should be treated differently.

“And when you think of the players in that bracket over the last eight years, I would say Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappe. I wouldn’t put Salah alongside them for what he’s done for Liverpool, but he’s very close, a legendary figure. And all those players get a privilege – exactly the same one Mo Salah gets at Liverpool. He doesn’t have to defend, he doesn’t have to chase back. So that’s the privilege he has with Liverpool.

“But when we’re talking about throwing people under the bus, he’s thrown the Liverpool right-back under the bus for eight years. Can you imagine playing behind him for eight years? But we accept it because he’s a superstar and he’s scored 250 goals and he’s given me as a Liverpool supporter some of the greatest nights of my life watching him and what he’s done. And that’s why we accept it.

“You also think of the ego of these types of players – Ronaldo, Messi, Mbappe, Mo Salah. I think they have a feeling that the success of a football club is down to them. I’ve no problem with that because I think it drives them on to score more goals and get more success. And it benefits Liverpool.

“It then becomes a problem when you’re in a situation like this. When Mo Salah’s talking about more goals he’s scored – ‘I’ve got more goals than anyone in the Premier League’, ‘What I did last season’ – he’s always speaking about himself. One thing I want to remind Mo Salah of, is that before he came to Liverpool, he was known as the guy who failed at Chelsea. That’s just a fact. He’d never won a major trophy.

“He’s also the greatest player his country have ever had in Egypt. Egypt, in the Africa Cup of Nations, are the most successful nation. Mo Salah has never won the AFCON. That’s not me trying to put him down as a player – I’ve just said he’s one of the best players in the world over the last eight years, very few better – but what it tells Mo Salah and his agent is that it’s not about an individual.

“You weren’t a big star before you came to Liverpool. You haven’t really won anything with Egypt. All that’s telling you is that no matter how good a player you are, you need help from your team-mates, your manager and fans. And I think it’s important that he remembers that."