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El-Hadji Diouf has made an astonishing attack on Steven Gerrard, claiming: “Nobody can stand him at Liverpool.”

The controversial Diouf, who played alongside Gerrard for Liverpool between 2002-2004, is one of the most hated figures in English football. Yet without any apparent self-awareness, the Leeds forward said Gerrard was “egotistical” in an outspoken interview with a French sports journal.

The pair did not hit it off at Anfield, with Gerrard questioning the Senegal international’s commitment and criticising his self-important attitude.

But Diouf, 31, who is enjoying a return to form in the Championship at Elland Road, claimed: “What Gerrard said about me was nonsense – it’s him who is self-obsessed.

“I respect him as a footballer, but there is no greater egomaniac than him. He doesn’t give a damn about anyone else. He would rather Liverpool lost and he scored.

(Image: Michael Regan)

“I have spoken with the old guys at Liverpool and nobody can stand him. And don’t get me started on Jamie Carragher...”

Gerrard, 32, wrote in his 2007 autobiography: “I wasn’t Diouf’s No.1 fan.

“I knew which players were hungry, which players had Liverpool at heart. Diouf was just interested in himself.

“His attitude was all wrong. I felt he wasn’t really a***d about putting his body on the line to get Liverpool back at the top.”

Diouf was even branded a “sewer rat” by his now Leeds boss Neil Warnock, who used the insult after the African taunted QPR’s Jamie Mackie when he was lying on the turf with a broken leg.

But Diouf insisted Gerrard’s comments were inspired by jealousy.

He added: “I carried Senegal to the 2002 World Cup quarter-finals on my own and I was listed in the top 100 players in the world by Pele after that World Cup. He wasn’t.

“He was jealous of me back then because I had the world at my feet.”

Elsewhere, Spanish starlet Suso has signed a new long-term contract at Liverpool.