Ronaldo ignites war of words between Carragher and Piers Morgan

Jamie Carragher has branded Piers Morgan a complete fraud, escalating a bitter row between the Liverpool legend and the media personality that has raged for days after Cristiano Ronaldo left the Portugal national team's camp.

Morgan had thrown his support behind the former Manchester United star, lining up alongside his old colleague Rio Ferdinand. Carragher wasn't impressed, hitting out at the pair for defending Ronaldo.

Speaking on "The Overlap Daily", Carragher said: "People think that getting close to the people who work in the field is a good thing, but therein lies the problem."

He added: "People like Piers Morgan and Rio Ferdinand, who hold a prominent position in the media, whether you like it or not, embarrass themselves because of the ridiculous statements they make simply because they know Ronaldo. You can know someone and try to protect them, but you cannot defend the indefensible."

The television presenter hit back on social media: "So, Jamie Carragher doesn't like me and Rio Ferdinand defending our friend Cristiano, or as he put it, that we are defending the indefensible. Here is Jamie Carragher himself supporting his friend Luis Suarez, after he directed racist abuse at Patrice Evra."

Morgan added: "But when it comes to defending the indefensible, I admit I have done it sometimes, Carragher."

He then dug up one of his own posts from 2018, which read: "Jamie Carragher was wrong when he spat at that car, but he was no more stupid than the father of the girl who was filming Carragher as he drove his car with his daughter alongside him. So, I hope Carragher keeps his job."

Morgan went on: "He is a wonderful analyst, and he apologised profusely for what he did, as the person involved in the incident behaved badly too."

Carragher fired straight back: "We supported our teammate, and we were wrong to do so. I apologised to Patrice live on air years ago, which later prompted Liverpool to send him a letter to apologise too, and that was the right thing to do."

He added: "Your reaction to my mild criticism, when I said that you and Rio are biased towards Ronaldo to the extent that it affects your judgement when talking about him, is embarrassing. You attack people every day, but when the opposite happens, you storm out of the television studio angrily or resort to personal attacks. All of this just to secure a new interview, what a sycophant you are."

Turning to the spitting incident he was once involved in, Carragher went on: "Yes, I remember that. I got in touch with you to say I appreciated your support, but you then tried to have me on your television programme to talk about the incident, so I rolled back a little on my appreciation of you, after I realised your support was not as sincere as I had initially thought."

He continued: "It was all about getting an interview, exactly as happens with your excessive fawning over Ronaldo and Donald Trump. I will also not resort to personal attacks by dredging up your past or the past of the other two people you are defending, because that would be defending the indefensible."

Mid-row, Carragher posted a picture of a newspaper column by Morgan in which he had called Ronaldo a spoilt child. His caption was blunt: "What a complete fraud you are."

Morgan had the last word, though. He posted a picture of himself with Carragher and wrote: "My friend, I even took a souvenir photo with a fan of yours recently to boost your fame. Show some gratitude!".