Jamie Carragher sparks up his feud with Rio Ferdinand again over ‘embarrassing’ comments about Cristiano Ronaldo
Former Liverpool captain Jamie Carragher has taken a friendly jab at his old England teammate Rio Ferdinand, sparking the classic rivalry between them once again. Both played for England in the early 2000s but never really got along, mainly due to their loyalties to rival clubs Liverpool and Manchester United.
Their disagreements go back a few years. In 2021, Ferdinand made fun of Carragher’s playing career after Carragher questioned Cristiano Ronaldo’s reasons for returning to Manchester United if he didn’t think the club could win the league. Ferdinand said Carragher shouldn’t talk about winning leagues since he never managed to win one himself and told him to stick to cup competitions instead.
The back-and-forth continued in 2022, when Carragher called it “laughable” to criticize Manchester United’s coach Erik ten Hag for leaving Ronaldo out of a match and suggested Ferdinand was a big fanboy of Ronaldo.
In 2026, Ferdinand posted a photo of himself celebrating a goal in front of Carragher and asked followers to “caption this.” Carragher joked back that Ferdinand usually made sure to be in pictures of other players’ goals and teased him about hanging around mixed zones bothering star players.
Ferdinand later said on his podcast that Carragher’s reply was unfair and harsh, adding that he just loves celebrating goals and didn’t understand why Carragher was so upset. He said Carragher was really annoyed, or as he put it, “spitting feathers.”
Most recently, on October 9, Carragher seemed to take another dig at Ferdinand while discussing Ronaldo’s recent fallout with Portugal’s coach Jorge Jesus, on The Overlap podcast with Gary Neville and Mark Goldbridge. Ronaldo had left Portugal’s training camp after a dispute about his playing time and then released a long statement accusing the coach of betraying his trust.
Carragher said people like Piers Morgan and Rio Ferdinand, who know Ronaldo personally and are big names in the media, are embarrassing themselves by trying to defend Ronaldo no matter what. He added that knowing someone doesn’t mean you can defend everything they do, especially when it’s clearly wrong.
Carragher also reminded everyone of Ronaldo’s behavior during the Euro 2016 final when he got injured early and then acted like a coach from the sidelines. He said it was unusual that Ronaldo, instead of celebrating at the end, just fell to the ground, showing it’s often all about him.
Gary Neville, who played with Ronaldo, admitted he finds him “hard to like,” despite his love for the player. Neville said Ronaldo’s second stint at Manchester United and his recent statement were hard to watch, and someone needs to tell Ronaldo that his actions aren’t acceptable. He worries Ronaldo won’t listen to them, but the statement can’t just be accepted.
Neville believes Ronaldo’s legacy isn’t ruined and that after he retires, people will remember his greatness rather than these recent problems. He explained that with all the money and power Ronaldo has, it’s easy for him to feel unstoppable, like he can control a manager or federation. Neville said he’s glad the Portugal coach stood firm, because if he had accepted Ronaldo’s demands, Ronaldo might have lost a lot of respect.