Steven Gerrard was reminded of a name heard long ago on Thursday - El Hadji Diouf.
The former Liverpool winger became a World Cup star when Senegal reached the quarter-finals in Japan and South Korea 20 years ago - and he has fanned the flames ahead of England's last-16 clash against the African champions on Sunday with a dig at Gerrard.
"England have a good team and a very good team spirit," said Diouf, who is now part of Senegal's coaching set-up, at a press conference on Thursday. "It’s not like with Stevie G and Frank Lampard, when the two of them didn’t like each other."
Gerrard would dispute that claim. Diouf has also compared England's confidence to France's in 2002. Senegal famously defeated the defending champions in the opening game of that World Cup - and the ex-superstar believes another shock is around the corner.
"It reminds me of when we played against France," said Diouf. "They thought they’d won the game before they played it. If England do the same thing on Sunday, this is good for us... We’re going to do everything to beat them and the players can do it."
England and their former skipper Gerrard will be hoping Senegal don't add another European scalp to their collection on Sunday, especially after Diouf's comments. Gerrard and Diouf clashed during the latter's spell at Liverpool between 2002 and 2004.
Do you remember El Hadji Diouf's time at Liverpool? Let us know in the comments below!
Then Reds boss Gerard Houllier signed Diouf from French side Lens after his impressive performances at the 2002 World Cup. The 21-year-old was tipped to give Liverpool's attack an exciting edge that could turn them from perennial battlers to title challengers.
Yet that didn't happen. Diouf's post-World Cup confidence (or arrogance, as some may protest) caused tension in the dressing room. "Oh God, here he is," one Reds star is alleged to have said when Diouf entered the room ahead of UEFA Cup tie in December 2002.
In the months building up to that moment, the Senegal international took a penalty from promising youngster Neil Mellor and tried to do the same to experienced professional Danny Murphy. There was a snowball's chance in hell Murphy was bowing to Diouf.
"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 £10 million ($12.4m) 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."
By that point, Gerrard's patience with Diouf was wearing thin. Tensions reached boiling point the following summer. "Half-time of a preseason game, [there was a] fight between Diouf and Gerrard," recalled former Reds star Florent Sinama Pongolle in 2020.
"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. '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'."
Gerrard later claimed Diouf "did not care about football and about Liverpool" in his autobiography. The writing was on the wall for the Senegalese winger after that and he left Liverpool for Premier League rivals Bolton - initially on loan - in the summer of 2004.
Diouf went on to play for Sunderland and Blackburn in the Premier League and faced Gerrard many times, with the two squaring up to each other during one memorable clash in February 2010. Diouf has certainly never forgotten about his feud with his latest dig.
Although Gerrard is no longer involved in the England set-up, he will be rooting for Three Lions to end Senegal's World Cup dream on Sunday to keep theirs alive. After all, he won't want to see Diouf posing with the World Cup trophy on December 18.
