Football is not the faint-hearted... just ask former Liverpool star Florent Sinama Pongolle.
The one-cap France international witnessed plenty of ups and downs during his professional career, representing the likes of Atletico Madrid, Sporting Lisbon and Dundee United. Yet one experience that has stayed with him unfolded on Merseyside between legendary Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard and (not so legendary) winger El-Hadji Diouf.
Gerrard and Diouf didn't see eye to eye during the latter's two-year spell at Anfield, with the Englishman even claiming the Senegalese star "did not care about football and about Liverpool" in an autobiography. So, it's unsurprising they once had a huge row.
Liverpool signed Diouf from Lens in the summer of 2002 after he impressed for Senegal at the World Cup in Japan and South Korea. Despite flourishing on the biggest international stage, the talent scored just three Premier League goals for the Reds.
Sinama Pongolle recalled the bust up during a chat with journalist Walid Acherchour in April 2020. As quoted by Sport Witness, Sinama Pongolle said: "Half-time of a pre-season game. 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.
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"Steven Gerrard arrives, he insults Diouf, 'Hey, you f******'. And [Diouf] couldn’t answer, so he grabs [then Liverpool manager] 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'."
By that point, Gerrard had lost patience with Diouf. An incident involving Diouf and Neil Mellor, one of Liverpool's youngsters at the time, is perhaps one of the reasons why Gerrard was not impressed. The row unfolded when Diouf took a penalty from Mellor.
"I go to get the ball and El Hadji Diouf, who’d been signed for big money that summer and was struggling to justify his price-tag with goals, has got the ball under his arm and is saying he’s taking it," Mellor told GOAL. "I'm like 'What are you doing?'
"But he is having none of it. So, I’m a lad on debut arguing with a £10million signing in front of the Kop! People probably thought, 'Who is this kid?' I looked at Steven Gerrard, who was captain, and he said, 'Just let him take it'. Diouf scored."
After falling out with Gerrard, the writing was on the wall for Diouf. He joined Bolton in the summer of 2004 and went on to have a solid career. He later played for Sunderland, Blackburn, Doncaster and Leeds before hanging up his boots in 2015 with 242 Premier League games to his name. He also won the Scottish Premier League title with Rangers.
It's unclear what Diouf exactly thinks of Gerrard today, but it's safe to assume they aren't in regular contact. Diouf, who was part of Senegal's coaching staff for last year's World Cup, made a cheeky dig at Gerrard during the tournament in Qatar.
Ahead of England's 3-0 win against Senegal in the last 16, Diouf was asked for his thoughts on England. He replied: "England have a good team and a very good team spirit. It’s not like with Stevie G and Frank Lampard, when the two of them didn’t like each other."
Ouch.
With all that's been said over the years, few would be surprised to see another chapter written in the Gerrard-Diouf feud. A football row for the ages.
