Boris Becker wades into Carragher vs Ferdinand spat

The scuffle between Jamie Carragher and Rio Ferdinand has a new contender - tennis legend Boris Becker.

Carragher has faced the heat in the last couple of days after giving a reasoned argument for why he thinks the Africa Cup of Nations is not a 'major tournament'.

On Sunday, the Liverpool legend suggested that Mohamed Salah is disadvantaged in the yearly debate for the Ballon d'Or by dint of not being able to win a major international tournament - in his eyes, the Euros, Copa America, or the World Cup (for which Egypt are not heavily fancied).

But that opinion brought him criticism from the likes of Daniel Sturridge, Micah Richards, and Rio Ferdinand - and now Becker has joined the pile-on regarding a separate issue.

Carragher had weighed in on Vincent Kompany's tenure at Bayern Munich, where he is leading the Bnudesliga by eight points over Bayern Munich and through to the Champions League last 16 after scraping past Celtic.

'Bayern have not convinced me at all yet. Now they are playing against Leverkusen, who dominated Bayern in the Bundesliga recently. It's a 50-50 tie,' he said.

'In the end, I'm predicting Leverkusen [to advance]. If Kompany does not win, there will be many question marks about his appointment, because the league is expected and the Champions League is the icing on the cake of a season. They have to reach at least the semi-finals,'

But Becker, a Bayern fan who has been a board member, hit back: 'There haven’t been any questions regarding the appointment of Kompany!

'In fact Bayern just said domestic title (is the) most important trophy this year and are happy with the work of Vincent Kompany! Jamie is NOT well informed at all,' he added, tagging Carragher.

And Ferdinand couldn't resist capitalising on his former rival's woes, retweeting Becker's statement and adding: 'Boris… he’s having a bad couple weeks. Let him off,' with three laughing emojis to boot.

Plenty of people have agreed with Carragher - including Joey Barton, who issued an impassioned video defence of his take - while he has also received some backlash.

Ballon d'Or winners have often tasted glory in either the Champions League or an international tournament - typically the European Championship or Copa America. No African star has won the gong since George Weah in 1995. while Sadio Mane finished second in the 2022 edition.

Carragher was pulled up live on air by Sturridge and Richards for saying: 'I think the problem (is) the fact he (Salah) is with Egypt, and he's probably not playing in the major tournament as such, or maybe got a great chance of winning, I think it's either the Champions League or the major tournament.

'Normally, the player who excels in that, like Vini Jr and (Kylian) Mbappe right now, Real Madrid looking really good going for the Champions League.

'Liverpool will be in that conversation, but right now (Los Blancos) are certainly the front runner.'

Richards hit back: 'Just to say, AFCON is a major tournament because a lot of people are at home saying "they aren't taking it serious". AFCON is a big tournament, just so you know.'

Carragher then responded by asking whether Egypt would be in contention to win the World Cup next year, to which the former Man City defender responded: 'No, but AFCON is big, isn't it?

'You remember when him and Mane was going for it and...'

Carragher then replied 'Oh God', before Sturridge brought the matter to a close: 'It's a fact. It's a fact. It's a fact. If you win the Euros or Copa America it's deemed to be big so the AFCON is in the same level.'

On the latest episode of his podcast, Ferdinand claimed that Carragher's assessment is representative of the majority view and implored FIFA to help bring its prestige in line with the European Championship and Copa America.

'I think [what he said] is representative of most of the people out there,' said Ferdinand. 'But I don't think that's right. It's an ignorant thought process.

'If you go to Didier Drogba, Abedi Pele , Samuel Eto, Riyad Mahrez, Mo Salah or Sadio Mane, they'll tell you "we have to win this" - there's demand in their country to win this.

'Yes, it doesn't get backed resources wise like the Euros but that doesn't mean you have to devalue it. It should be respected more than it is.'

However, Carragher wasn't happy with the former United defender's take.

'I didn't say that you clown,' Carragher commented on the Instagram post of his former rival discussing the subject. 'Stop playing to the gallery like you always do.'