Former Super Eagles captain and Africa Cup of Nations winner, Mikel Obi, has strongly criticised Jamie Carragher’s comments about the AFCON, calling them “disrespectful” and “wrong.”
Mikel, who won the prestigious tournament in 2013, expressed outrage at Carragher’s dismissal of AFCON as a “small tournament.”
Mikel, who regards AFCON as one of his career’s greatest achievements, highlighted the significance of the tournament to over 1.6 billion Africans and its global viewership of 2 billion.
He pointed out that Carragher, who never won any major international title with England, had no right to belittle such an important competition.
“The AFCON tournament is a big event. I was privileged to win so many trophies in my career, and I always say that the UEFA Champions League and AFCON are the two biggest titles I’ve won,” Mikel said on ObiOne Podcast.
“Winning the AFCON was my biggest dream growing up as a player. So for someone to call it a small tournament—after 2 billion people watched it—is so disrespectful.
“And this is coming from someone who never won any major international competition with England.”
Mikel went further, urging Carragher to apologise to Africa, saying, “He needs to shut his mouth before criticising Africa and what we stand for.
“Who are you? If you had won something with England, maybe I would understand. The EPL is what it is because of players from Africa, South America, and Europe. He owes Africa an apology.”
In a separate matter, Mikel also defended José Mourinho against allegations of racism in Turkish football, calling the accusations “baseless.”
Mikel attributed the controversy to politics within Turkish football, stating that Mourinho, who he described as a “straightforward guy,” had no history of racism.
“The politics in Turkish football is something I don’t want to get involved in,” Mikel stated.
“It’s baseless. The bureaucracy is out of this world.
“And for them to label Mourinho a racist is a joke. He’s nice to everyone and doesn’t care about who you are.
“He’s a straightforward guy. I won’t entertain that.”
