Curtis Jones posted a simple photograph on his Instagram page this week showing himself celebrating Mohamed Salah’s goal in the Champions League by sitting next to him on an advertising hoarding.
Many of the comments posted beneath were pleasant and many were not.
‘You should learn to respect our legend’. ‘Don’t talk too much kid’. ‘Stay humble’. ‘Salah’s left foot is better than your whole career’.
That was just a sample taken from the first dozen of more than 500 comments left by Thursday morning. More will come, for sure.
The origins of the discourse lay in an interview Jones, the Liverpool midfielder, did with Rio Ferdinand in the run up the game against Lille in which he suggested that the former Chelsea and Real Madrid forward Eden Hazard may have been more talented than Salah, his team-mate.