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Diouf says he's 'Mr Senegal' and bigger than 'Mr Liverpool' Gerrard

By Daily Mail
el_hadji diouf
Former Senegal International El-Hadji Diouf with Steven Gerrard
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El Hadji Diouf's long-running war of words with former Liverpool captain and team mate Steven Gerrard has been reopened.
There has never been much love lost between the pair, who played together for two years at Anfield.

And the dispute between the two has now been running for almost a decade, 12 years after Diouf ended his miserable spell on Merseyside.

But, speaking to the BBC, the retired 36-year-old, declared he had 'no problem' with Liverpool's Under 18s manager Gerrard, before taking an inevitable swipe.

'I have no problem with him,' Diouf said. 'He [Gerrard] is a strong character and I am a strong character.

'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.'

The feud between the two began back in 2007, when Gerrard wrote about Diouf in his autobiography.

'I wasn't Diouf's No 1 fan,' the 37-year-old wrote in his book.

'Being around Melwood and Anfield I knew which players were hungry, which players had Liverpool at heart. Diouf was just interested in himself.

'His attitude was all wrong. I felt he wasn't really a***d about putting his body on the line to get Liverpool back at the top.'
Diouf responded five years later, calling Gerrard 'jealous'.

'Gerrard was jealous of me back then as I had the world at my feet. There's no one more selfish... he doesn't care about anyone else.

'Gerrard would rather Liverpool lost and he scored. The old Liverpool guys can't stand him. I won't even start with [Jamie] Carragher.'

In 2015 he made the outrageous claim that Gerrard 'has never liked black people', which the former Reds captain immediately rebuked.

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