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Football

25th Mar 2017

Liverpool fans are pissed off with one name in their ‘Legends’ squad – and bemused by two others

Are they having a laugh?

Nooruddean Choudry

The word ‘legend’ is banded about far too liberally these days.

Nowhere is it more ridiculously overused than in modern football. Everyone is an ‘absolute legend’, and every goal or piece of skill is the ‘best ever’. But it seems that Liverpool Football Club have widened the definition to extreme levels with the announcement of their ‘Legends’ squad to face Real Madrid in a charity match at Anfield on Saturday.

Don’t get us wrong, there are more than enough bona fide all-time greats in the 23-man squad. The hallowed likes of Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler, John Aldridge, Sterven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher would grace any legends game. Certainly it’s enough to have excited supporters salivating, and to sell out the famous stadium for the day.

But the inclusion of certain BT Sport pundit has sullied the whole affair for some ardent fans with longer memories than the last two or three years. They still haven’t forgiven Michael Owen for joining bitter rivals Manchester United back in 2009, and so are not best pleased that he will feature in the game…

But anger is replaced with bemusement (and amusement) at the inclusion of a couple of other, less notorious chancers. The fact that Salif Diao (37 appearances between 2002 and 2007) and Bjørn Tore Kvarme (45 appearances between 1997 and 1999) come under the banner of ‘legends’ is both hilarious and preposterous to the Anfield faithful…