Jamie Carragher found a wonderful compliment in his Twitter mentions on Tuesday night.
Following Juventus’ victory over Monaco in the Champions League semi-finals, Giorgio Chiellini was one of many Juve players picked out for particular praise after he put in another sterling defensive display.
Yet again, Chiellini proved himself one of the world’s most reliable defenders with a magical piece of work late in the first half when he somehow steered a glorious Benjamin Mendy cross, which seemed destined for the boot of Radamel Falcao, behind for a corner.
He clearly enjoyed it too https://t.co/SgvFprKfPC
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) May 9, 2017
But while kind words were showered upon the hard-nosed Italian centre-half, a comparison with Carragher from Pako Ayestarán will have given the Liverpool legend a healthy boost to his ego.
“Some defenders defend well whilst others make it their mission when taking to the pitch,” Ayestaran tweeted.
“Chiellini is one of them and Jamie Carragher was another.”
Some defenders defend well whilst others make it their mission when taking to the pitch… Chiellini is one of them and @Carra23 was another. pic.twitter.com/T4QBPezx4Y
— Pako Ayestarán (@PakoAyestaran) May 9, 2017
Ayestarán, who was a member of Rafa Benitez’s staff at Liverpool, worked with Carragher for three years and saw the same defensive DNA in the former Reds centre-half as he does in Chiellini.
The compliment was returned by Carragher, who claimed Ayestaran was the best fitness coach he’d ever had in his career.
You where the best fitness coach I've ever had!
— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) May 9, 2017
There was one slight typo in Carragher’s tweet which most of his followers overlooked as very few of his 1.02million followers rely on perfect spelling to enjoy Carra’s insight into football.
But Alex Bell couldn’t let it be and had to bring up the fact that Carragher had said “where” when he meant “were.”
It will surprise absolutely nobody to learn that Carragher, after taking one look at Alex’s profile picture, had the perfect response lined up.
