Jamie Carragher gave his own take on a fan throwing an object at Luis Diaz after the Colombian put Liverpool 3-1 up against Benfica.
Luis Diaz had the biggest moment of his Liverpool career so far on Tuesday. He grabbed the all-important third goal in Lisbon, putting the Reds in an incredibly strong position.
Ibrahima Konate and Sadio Mané had Liverpool in a 2-0 half-time lead but things fell apart in the second half. Konate’s mistake allowed the hosts back into the game and they responded with a series of good chances.
Fortunately for the Reds, Benfica couldn’t take them. That left the door open for Diaz to round the goalkeeper and score Liverpool’s third – surely a goal that seals the tie.
But Benfica fans certainly weren’t happy with it and one of them reacted terribly to the goal. As Diaz celebrated, he hurled a stick at the Colombian. Even worse, someone else threw something as the Liverpool man collected his Man of the Match award.
Jamie Carragher addressed the incidents after the game for CBS Sports. He blames tribalism and worries it’s happening more and more.
“It’s happening a lot more in the game there that,” he said. “[Diego] Simeone had a situation at Old Trafford. I think in the FA Cup in England, we saw an actual fan run onto the pitch and throw a punch.
“This is more than creeping into our game – not just in Portugal, this is happening in England and all over the place now.
“The rivalry and tribalism in football now. It certainly wasn’t like that when I was a player. The amount of football we see on TV, and with social media, I do think fans and everybody gets more wound up than football.”
Luis Diaz for Liverpool
It really is a worry. As Carragher rightly points out, this keeps happening in football all over the globe. France, in particular, have had real issues with fan behaviour this season.
It isn’t exactly easy to see how you fix it, though. Tribalism in football certainly is getting out of hand – but that’s the case for most things these days.
Diaz wasn’t even the only one to suffer here, in fact. Andy Robertson had objects, including lighters, thrown at him as he took a late corner.
We’re not sure where football really goes from here but it’s a problem that continues to get worse.
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