Rio Ferdinand and Jamie Carragher may have been team-mates for England – but there is clearly no love lost between the former centre-backs based on a social media spat.

At club level they were rivals in the early 2000s, with Ferdinand at Manchester United and Carragher at Liverpool, and both are vocal supporters of their former clubs across various media.

Before the sides’ meeting on Sunday, Ferdinand wrote on Twitter ‘caption this’.

The picture was of Ferdinand and United team-mates celebrating Mikael Silvestre’s winner in a September 2004 meeting – in front of a dejected Carragher.

It was Ferdinand’s first game back after an eight-month ban for missing a drugs test.

Carragher – on this seeing this post – replied saying:, external “Not like you to make sure you were in the picture of someone else’s goal.

“You now carry on this ritual by hanging around mixed zones bothering star players & asking your lackeys to film it!”

Carragher was referring to former TNT pundit Ferdinand’s YouTube channel, Rio Ferdinand Presents.

On said podcast later, Ferdinand recorded a video, external saying: “I thought it was really, really harsh.

“I just put a picture of us celebrating a goal. I’ve scored a couple of goals in these games against Liverpool, but I didn’t put one I scored in.”

Ferdinand netted twice for United against Liverpool, both in 2006 at Old Trafford.

“I put one I was celebrating,” Ferdinand continued. “I love celebrating, and he tried to really hammer me. I don’t understand why. I don’t know what it is that’s rubbed him up the wrong way.

“He spat his dummy out. He was spitting feathers.”

Ferdinand then paused for a bit, leading some to suggest his wording there alluded to Carragher spitting from his car towards a girl in another vehicle after Liverpool‘s 2-1 Premier League loss at Manchester United in 2018, an incident which led to him being suspended by Sky Sports.

The ex-West Ham and Leeds player then carried on: “He used to be a team-mate of mine with England. He used to carry my wash bag. He used to carry my boots sometimes, like when he didn’t get changed and was in the stands.

“But I thought we’d always got on. I’ve known him since we were schoolboys.”

Manchester United beat Liverpool 3-2 at Old Trafford in Sunday’s game.

“He’s going to be even more upset now, isn’t he?” added Ferdinand.

“They’ve just been beaten. But this game affects people’s emotions and makes people react differently.”