Man Utd legend Rio Ferdinand to ‘check’ friendship with Liverpool star Jamie Carragher after clown remark

Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand will 'check' his friendship with Jamie Carragher after the former Liverpool star branded the Red Devils defender a 'clown' on television.

Carragher was providing punditry for CBS Sports alongside Micah Richards and Thierry Henry last Wednesday evening for the first leg of the Champions League semi-final between AC Milan and Inter Milan, during which there was a controversial penalty claim.

Inter forward Lautaro Martinez was brought down in the box but a penalty given on-field was overturned by VAR, a decision Carragher believed was right.

The 45-year-old was so passionate about his opinion that he labelled anyone who disagreed a 'clown' and, when told that Rio Ferdinand had argued the penalty should have stood, Carragher replied: "Rio Ferdinand. I'm happy to call him a clown."

The pundits chuckled in the CBS Studio and social media erupted at the banter, but Ferdinand has now admitted that he was shocked to see the footage and will confront Carragher about their friendship.

Speaking on Rio Ferdinand Presents FIVE he said: "If that was a Man Utd player in the box and his ankles got clipped, you are doing cartwheels, somersaults out of the Stretford End to try and get to the ref. The guys in the studio agreed with me by the way.

"The mad thing is, he [Carragher] is a friend of the show. Every time I see him it's all love. I'm a loving guy, we hug and shake hands. I don't understand why he came with the hostility. The hostile energy, I don't understand it. He's been on the show, he used to carry my boots when we were with England."

Ferdinand added that he thought Carragher's hostility might have come from jealousy after the United man was added to the Premier League Hall of Fame earlier that month - an honour not bestowed on the Liverpool defender.

He continued: "It might've been because it was a Hall of Fame thing. Me and him chat. I only have good energy for him.

"I take it as banter, but how he delivers it is his own thing. I'm cool but when he sees me I'll need to check that energy again. It's a madness to me. I don't know where that energy has come from."