Rio Ferdinand accused Steve McManaman of harassing a fan of his former team Manchester United in the run-up to Liverpool’s mouth-watering Champions League clash with Real Madrid.
The Reds are looking to continue their perfect start to the Champions League under Arne Slot, having won all four of their games in the competition so far this season, ahead of their clash with Los Blancos.
Real Madrid arrives as current champions, but faces a team led by Slot that has had a fantastic start to the campaign on all fronts.
In fact, so impressive have been his first three-odd months in the Slot era that McManaman, who played for Liverpool from 1990 to 1999, revealed he was surprised by how strong his former team has been so far. .
“I thought it would be perfect (Liverpool’s transition),” McManaman admitted. “I didn’t expect the results to be as good as they have been.
“We expected some problems from time to time; the fact that it has only happened to Nottingham Forest and Arsenal away from home is very surprising.”
Steve McManaman pulled a light-hearted joke on his co-writer Rio Ferdinand on Wednesday night.
Ferdinand joked that McManaman was “provoking Man United” following the former Liverpool star’s comments.
“They have been dominant in the league and have been lucky with other clubs dropping points. “It’s been absolutely excellent.”
Ferdinand then interrupted: ‘Why did you think it would be perfect?’
“I thought the athletic directors were going to bring in the type of coach that would fit the team,” McManaman continued.
“They weren’t going to bring in a coach who would change the starting eleven, change the way of playing or change the formation.”
However, the former Manchester United centre-half felt he detected something of a mockery from the Liverpool legend, with the two clubs sharing a historic rivalry throughout the history of English football.
Then he replied: ‘Is that an insinuation? Are you already criticizing Man United? What are you doing?’
McManaman went on to insist that while the Reds were competitive on multiple fronts under Jurgen Klopp, the transition to the new era at Anfield had been “seamless”.
‘I always thought last year’s team was excellent until April. They were competing for all the trophies. “So I didn’t expect them to collapse just because the manager was gone,” he continued.
‘If the manager goes and someone comes in, you don’t automatically throw in the towel. As a professional you want to go out and win every game and that’s what Liverpool do.
‘I think it was always going to be perfect, but the level of results surprised me from Liverpool. They have been exceptional.’
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