Jamie Carragher issues statement on AFCON and Mohamed Salah comments amid 'ignorant' claim

Jamie Carragher has been subject of criticism by many after dismissing the importance of the Africa Cup of Nations

Jamie Carragher has addressed his comments about the Africa Cup of Nations. The Liverpool icon, who suggested the continental competition does not count as a major tournament, has been criticised by current and former players.

While discussing Mohamed Salah's chances of winning the Ballon d'Or, Carragher said last week: "I think the problem is the fact he's with Egypt, and he's probably not playing in the major tournament as such, or maybe got a great chance of winning, I think it's either the Champions League or the major tournament. Normally, the player who excels in that [wins it]."

He has been subject of a major backlash with Rio Ferdinand calling the former defender's view as 'ignorant.' While on Champions League punditry duty for CBS Sports, Carragher cleared up his comments. "What I would say is you know me better than anybody on this show. I've got very strong opinions on the game, I love debate and that will never change but what I would never want to be described at is ignorant or disrespectful," he said.

"So that was never my aim and whether that's to a player, a club, a country, a continent, an international tournament, whatever that may be. What I would say is, where I got it wrong was, I was clumsy with my language in describing AFCON as 'not a major tournament'.

"I was trying to explain the merits of Mo Salah winning the Ballon d'Or as you've just said and I feel that, not just AFCON, I would say the Asia Games, the Gold Cup, not so much the Copa America, but there's five major tournaments out there besides the World Cup that are for their continents and are obviously a major tournament, but some of them don't resonate with the people who vote for the Ballon d'Or.

Carragher added: "That for me was not an opinion, that was like a fact in terms of looking at who has won the Ballon d'Or over the last 40/50 years. So, yes, I have been banging the drum for Mo Salah to become the first African player to win the Ballon d'Or since George Weah in the mid-nineties and as I said, I should have been a lot tidier with my language around that so, yes, that is something I will look at.

You do look at the Euros, where it's at right now and other competitions, and some of them resonate with Ballon d'Or voters who are journalists, national coaches, national captains. One of the reasons, I think, is sometimes we forget the Ballon d'Or was the European Footballer of the Year so maybe there may be a bias towards the Euros or European football in the past. It was definitely not my aim to offend anybody, I know I've done that a lot in the past in different guises, about different players or teams, that was certainly not the case. But, yes, hopefully that's addressed it."