Jamie Carragher played at some of the world’s most famous stadiums during his long career at Liverpool and the former England international has a clear number one
Former Liverpool star Jamie Carragher has overlooked Anfield when naming what he considers to be the “best” stadium in world football.
Carragher spent his entire playing career on Liverpool’s books, captaining the Reds on multiple occasions in the Premier League and Champions League. However, he has named Real Madrid’s home, Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, as number one in the world.
The defender skippered his team at the Bernabeu back in 2009, when Yossi Benayoun scored the winner for a Liverpool side managed by Rafa Benitez. It was part of a 5-0 aggregate victory over Los Blancos in the Champions League round of 16, though Liverpool’s journey would then end at the hands of Premier League rivals Chelsea in the quarter-finals.
Real Madrid returned to their home in September 2021 after some time away during renovation works, but have enjoyed some famous wins since returning – including a dramatic Clasico victory over Barcelona last April. Carragher was impressed with the Bernabeu before the renovation, but is has since climbed even higher in his estimations.
“I was at the Bernabeu the other week for a Champions League game. Coming from England as a kid, you’d always ask your parents for a Real Madrid or Barcelona kit, those were the glamour clubs for us,” Carragher told The Overlap US (via Metro). “I was always Barcelona because Gary Lineker went there from Everton in the mid-80s. When I was speaking to the Spanish lads at Liverpool, they always saw Real Madrid as the club in Spain.
“I played at the old Bernabeu but when I stood in the new stadium the other week, I was thinking, ‘this is the pinnacle’. I was almost thinking, I can understand where Trent [Alexander-Arnold] is coming from if he comes here! I hope he hasn’t seen this new roof!
“But seriously, every time we go to Tottenham we say that stadium is one of the best in the world but Real Madrid’s stadium is the best in the world. It is. It feels special when you’re on the side of the pitch.”
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Carragher’s allusion to Alexander-Arnold comes as the Liverpool right-back continues to be linked with a summer switch to Real Madrid. He wouldn’t be the first player to turn out for both clubs, with Steve McManaman and Xabi Alonso among the others.
“I’ve listened, I’ve heard a lot of nonsense about the Trent situation in various papers, podcasts, whatever people need to sell, and of course they don’t know the full story,” McManaman said of Alexander-Arnold in January. The right-back is out of contract in the summer, but continues to turn out for his boyhood club while his future remains uncertain,
“If you keep commenting on every single situation nobody will end up listening to you,” he added. “There is no gravitas to what you’ve got to say. You have to see how it pans out.”
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