‘What has that got to do with the Premier League?’ - Mikel Obi slams Carragher for criticising Salah

The controversy began after Salah, who has struggled to match last season's impressive was left out of the squad for three consecutive games. 

The Egyptian star subsequently voiced his displeasure to the media, feeling he had been treated unfairly.

Carragher, a Liverpool legend, reacted sharply to Salah's public outburst, accusing the winger of throwing the club "under the bus," referencing his less successful period at Chelsea and his failure to win a major trophy with the Egyptian national team.

Speaking on his "Obi One Podcast," Mikel, an AFCON winner himself, launched a blistering attack on Carragher for what he sees as a pattern of disrespect towards African football and its players.

"To always, for some reason, criticise African football and African players... You have somebody sit there in the studio criticising Mo Salah and saying he's never won the African Cup of Nations," Mikel stated. 

"What has that got to do with the Premier League? What has that got to do with what we're talking about? He thinks that African football or African players do not deserve to be at the highest stage of world football."

"Why does he talk about Mo Salah's failure at Chelsea? People fail. It's about how they get up. Look at what he's done for Liverpool! You learn more from failure; you get better from failing," he continued. 

"For somebody to criticise a young player and call that a failure, especially coming from someone who's nowhere near what Salah has achieved."

"He [Carragher] did not win the Premier League, nor did he win anything with his national team. Abandoned his national team, honestly, because he wasn't playing, and now he's criticising someone for speaking out that he wants to play," Mikel argued.

"Mo Salah doesn't want to quit when it's tough. He wants to get the team out of the sticky patch. That's who you call a true leader."

Meanwhile, tensions at Anfield appear to have eased as Salah received a standing ovation from the Kop during Liverpool's 2-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion, a match in which he broke Wayne Rooney's record for the most goal contributions for a single club in Premier League history.