Jamie Carragher has named his all-time Liverpool XI, and controversially only picked two of his former team-mates.
After rising through the academy ranks at Liverpool, Carragher went on to make his first team debut in January 1997 and remained at the club for 16 years before hanging up his boots in 2013.
The one-club man played with some elite players, winning three League Cups, two FA Cups, the UEFA Cup and most famously the Champions League during his time at Anfield. But he overlooked a number of his old team-mates when putting together his XI, and only had space for two of Arne Slot’s current squad as well.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, Carragher started off with his goalkeeper and back four, while his left midfielder was also an easy pick as he said: ‘I would go with Ray Clemence just over Alisson [Becker], just for the fact he won so many trophies.
‘Right back, Phil Neal or Trent [Alexander-Arnold]. Steve Nicol might do a job for me at left back – when you think of players who have played for AC Milan and won the European Cup four of five times and we go ‘wow’, [same with] Real Madrid and Barcelona players – Neal won four European Cups – it’s unbelievable. At the end of Trent’s career, I’ll probably say Trent, but I’ll go with Neal due to the fact he’s won four European Cups.
Jamie Carragher has named his all-time Liverpool XI on the Stick to Football podcast
Current Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk was picked by Carragher
‘I would go with Virgil van Dijk and Alan Hansen – that would be a great partnership [at centre back]. Andy Robertson may come into the equation, but Liverpool haven’t had a history of unbelievable left-backs – even when they were successful.
‘I’m going to go for Nicol at left-back, he had a great combination with the guy in front of him who’s going to play, John Barnes in that late 80’s team. Nicol was a player a little similar to me – right back, centre-back, left back, but he was that good for Liverpool.’
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Carragher’s selection of Barnes is not a major surprise, as the Liverpool legend has always raved about the winger ever since he was promoted to the first team when Barnes was in his final season at Anfield.
Carragher has previously said of Barnes: ‘Technically, he’s the best player I’ve ever trained or played with, he was great with both feet, they were both exactly the same. I’d say he’s the best finisher I’ve ever played with.
‘Barnes never used to blast his shots – they’d just get placed right in the corner. You speak with the players from those great Liverpool sides and ask them who the best player they played with was and they all say John Barnes.’
Moving on to the rest of his midfield, Carragher picked his second former team-mate – Steven Gerrard – and could not ignore Mo Salah either.
Graeme Souness got the nod in midfield after being part of Liverpool’s golden era in the 1970s and 80s
Mo Salah was the second member of Arne Slot’s current squad to make Carragher’s team
‘Graeme Souness has to be in central midfield alongside Steven Gerrard,’ Carragher continued.
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‘On the right, there’s two options. Before Mo Salah joined the club, Ian Callaghan. He is the only player who has played more games for Liverpool than me. He played 860 games, and he won the second division with Liverpool and then one of his last games was the 1977 European Cup final.
‘So, you think of that journey from being a second division player, a local player, but Mo Salah’s got to go in on that right side.’
Liverpool have had some iconic forwards over the years, with Carragher playing alongside the likes of Michael Owen, Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez.
But none of them made the final cut, as he plumped for Kenny Dalglish before giving Ian Rush the nod over Suarez, after Carragher admitted the Welshman had reduced him to tears with his goals against Everton when he supported the Toffees as a young boy.
‘Kenny Dalglish has got to play [up front] and Ian Rush goes in because of what he won,’ Carragher said.
‘If Luis Suárez would have won the league with Liverpool – he won one trophy. If he had a league title and a European Cup to his name, I would have put Suárez in.
‘But you think about what Rush did in those cup finals against Everton – I was crying on the way home!’
Jamie Carragher was speaking on Stick to Football, brought to you by Sky Bet
