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Bitter Anfield flop El-Hadji Diouf has embarked on another bizarre rant against Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard .

The former Senegal striker, who is the only Reds No 9 in history to go through an entire season without scoring a goal, claims Gerrard was “afraid to look into my eyes” when they were team-mates.

Diouf was speaking on French TV channel SFR Sport alongside Emmanuel Petit as they discussed Gerrard's decision to retire from playing.

The ex-Arsenal midfielder leapt to Gerrard's defence as he described him as “an immense player”.

“People told me at Liverpool, there was some guys you could not touch, but I touched them. That is why it was complicated for me,” Diouf said.

“When I arrived I showed him he was nothing at all. He was nothing at all.

“I asked him to tell me in which big competition, Euros or World Cup, people think about him.”

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World Cup winner Petit brought up the manner in which Gerrard had inspired Liverpool to Champions League glory in Istanbul. But when Petit couldn’t remember which year it was, Diouf continued his attack.

“Here is the proof, even you cannot remember,” he said.

“You are talking about Euros and World Cup. Today I owe you respect (Petit), I owe respect to Mr Zidane because you did win the World Cup.”

Petit responded, saying: “I cannot let you say that about Steven Gerrard. He was an immense player.”

Diouf scored just six goals in 80 appearances for Liverpool following a £10million move from Lens in 2002 with team-mates frequently bemoaning his lack of commitment.

Gerrard wrote in his autobiography that he believed Diouf “did not care about football and about Liverpool”.

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Diouf added on French TV: “I repeat. I respect the player, very big player, but the man, I do not respect. And I told him, I let him know that.

“With all my respect I let him know. For me in Liverpool, he was not just a player like anyone else. He had to work and play his football as I had to work and play my football.

“Then as you know, there were some brown-nosers, who went to the manager to repeat what I said. That was the real problem. When Gerrard did that, we had an argument, like real men.

“That is why he does not like me. He knows I say what I think, that when it is not right, no problem, I am up for it.

“He could not, he was afraid of looking into my eyes. He was afraid of talking to me. Let's not forget when I arrived I did not ask for his shirt. He asked for my Senegal shirt for one of his mates.”