Jamie Carragher has named his all-time Liverpool XI and controversially only picked two of his former team-mates.
After coming through the ranks of Liverpool’s academy, Carragher made 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 and won three League Cups, two FA Cups, the UEFA Cup and, most famously, the Champions League during his time at Anfield. But he overlooked several of his former team-mates when putting together his starting XI and only had room for two of Arne Slot’s current squad.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, hosted by Sky BetCarragher started with his goalkeeper and four defenders, while his left midfielder was also an easy choice, as he said: ‘I would pick Ray Clemence just above Alisson (Becker), just for the fact that he won so many trophies.
‘Right-back, Phil Neal or Trent (Alexander-Arnold). Steve Nicol could be a good player for me at left-back. When you think of players who have played for AC Milan and won the European Cup four out of five times, you say ‘wow!’ – the same goes for players at Real Madrid and Barcelona, Neal won four European Cups. It’s incredible. At the end of Trent’s career, I would probably say Trent, but I’ll stick with Neal because he’s won four European Cups.
Jamie Carragher has named his Liverpool XI on the Stick to Football podcast
Current Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk was chosen by Carragher
John Barnes occupied the left midfield position, and Carragher has previously said that he is the best technical player he has ever played with.
‘I’d go with Virgil van Dijk and Alan Hansen, they’d be a great duo[in central defence]. Andy Robertson could come into the equation, but Liverpool don’t have a history of great left-backs, even when they were successful.
“I’m going to go with Nicol at left-back. He had a great combination with the player who was going to play ahead of him, John Barnes, in that team in the late 80s. Nicol was a bit like me – right-back, centre-back, left-back – but he was that good at Liverpool.”
Carragher’s selection of Barnes does not come as a huge surprise, with the Liverpool legend having always praised the winger since he was promoted to the first team when Barnes was in his final season at Anfield.
Carragher had already 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 had a powerful shot, his shots ended up in the corner. If you talk to players from those great Liverpool teams and ask them who was the best player they played with, they all say John Barnes.”
Moving on to the rest of the midfield, Carragher chose his second former teammate Steven Gerrard and couldn’t ignore Mo Salah either.
Graeme Souness was given the nod in midfield after being part of Liverpool’s golden era in the 1970s and 1980s.
Carragher’s former teammate Steven Gerrard has been named alongside Souness in midfield.
Mo Salah was the second member of Arne Slot’s current squad to feature for Carragher.
“Graeme Souness needs to be in central midfield alongside Steven Gerrard,” Carragher continued.
‘On the right, there are two options. Before Mo Salah came to the club, Ian Callaghan. He is the only player who has played more games for Liverpool than me. He played 860 games, won the second division with Liverpool and one of his last games was the 1977 European Cup final.
‘So you think about that journey from being a second division player, a local player, but Mo Salah has to get into that right side.’
Liverpool have had some iconic strikers over the years, with Carragher playing alongside the likes of Michael Owen, Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez.
But neither of them made it to the final, as he opted for Kenny Dalglish before handing the chance to Ian Rush over Suarez after Carragher admitted the Welshman had reduced him to tears with his goals against Everton when he supported the Toffees as a boy.
“Kenny Dalglish has to play (up front) and Ian Rush comes in because of what he won,” Carragher said.
“If Luis Suarez had won the league with Liverpool, he won a title. If he had a league and a European Cup to his name, he would have put Suarez in.
‘But think of what Rush did in those cup finals against Everton. He was crying on the way home!’
Jamie Carragher spoke on Stick to Football, presented by Sky Bet