Former Liverpool striker Florent Sinama Pongolle has revealed intimate details regarding an altercation between Steven Gerrard and El-Hadji Diouf, which left him feeling ‘traumatized’.
From 2002 to 2005, the three were teammates at Liverpool, although Diouf was often a polarizing presence, causing friction with many players and opponents alike throughout his career.
The ex-Senegal international was part of Liverpool for three years before transferring to Bolton Wanderers in 2005, after a loan spell with the club.
Since departing Anfield, he has not spoken favorably about Liverpool or Gerrard in particular.
Diouf has previously criticized Gerrard, claiming he contributed little to the national team, and the two had a confrontation during their time together.
Now, Pongolle, who joined Liverpool in 2001 and played there for five years, has disclosed details of their confrontation and how witnessing it impacted him deeply at the time.
By nature, friendly matches are supposed to be a laid-back affair with nothing at stake as teams prepare for the upcoming season. It’s supposed to be a casual 90-minute contest, but every once in a while, tempers between opponents have flared and things have escalated.
It’s not a regular occurrence, and it’s even rarer that teammates have clashed during a friendly, but that’s exactly what happened between Gerrard and Diouf at half-time during a pre-season match with Liverpool.
According to Pongolle, thing got heated between the two inside the dressing room. Speaking to journalist Walid Acherchour, via quotes shared by talkSPORT, the former forward revealed all and said:”It was half-time of a pre-season game.
There was a fight between Diouf and Gerrard. I was traumatised. Can you imagine the young ones seeing this and thinking that’s what professionals are like at that level? At half-time, in the dressing room. Stevie G is all like ‘you have to pass, you have to pass’ and [Diouf] just loses it.”He didn’t speak English.
His English was rubbish. You know what he did? They hated each other so much. Steven Gerrard arrives, he insults Diouf, saying: ‘Hey, you f*****’.
And [Diouf] couldn’t answer, so he grabs Gerard Houllier and says: ‘Tell him, I’ll f*** his mum’.
He came in and said: ‘I’m not his mate, I’ll do him in straight away’.”It wasn’t an incident that either man moved on from quickly.
They have traded verbal jabs in the media in the years since, with Gerrard labelling Diouf the worst teammate he ever had at Liverpool. They went on to have very different careers.