The Senegalese legend was involved in a dressing room bust-up with the former England midfielder at some stage in his three-year stay at Anfield.
Former Liverpool striker Florent Sinama Pongolle has revealed the important points of an explosive hostilities of words between El Hadji Diouf and ex-Reds captain Steven Gerrard, including that the forward’s English was so awful that he asked then-manager Gerard Houllier to translate his expletives.
Diouf, who was in no way far from controversy at some point of his playing career, joined Liverpool in 2002 after a prolific period at Lens, although his time at Anfield yielded only three Premier League goals throughout 55 appearances and he was eventually sold to Bolton Wanderers.
Goals may have been at a premium for the duration of his spell in England but drama was not, with the former Senegal international fined numerous times for unsuitable conduct, which includes spitting at opposition fans.
Diouf had little love for Gerrard too, the former admitting in the past that he showed the Anfield icon “he was nothing” upon his arrival, insisting that he respected the player “but not the man” and that the now-Rangers boss would not look in his eyes “because he was afraid”.
Sinama Pongolle, a youngster in Houllier’s squad at the time, got to see the pair’s spats up close and revealed important points of a particularly heated dispute at some stage in the break in a pre-season match.
“[It was] half-time of a pre-season game… fight between Diouf and Gerrard. I was traumatised,” the 35-year-old stated during an Instagram live session.
“Can you imagine the younger ones seeing this and wondering 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] simply loses it.
He did not speak English, his English was rubbish, so you know what he did? They hated each other so much…
“Steven Gerrard arrives and he insults Diouf: ‘Hey, you f*cker’. And Diouf could not answer, so he grabs Gerard Houllier and says: ‘Tell him I’ll f*ck his mother!’. He came in and said: ‘I’m not his mate, I’ll do him in straight away’.”
Despite the negative headlines that followed Diouf, the attacker was named African Player of the Year on two events and took in further spells at Sunderland, Blackburn Rovers, Rangers and Leeds United before calling time on his profession in 2015.
