El Hadji Diouf was not liked among Celtic fans.
In truth, he wasn’t really liked among the football world. A hot-headed, controversial figure, he signed for Liverpool in 2002 before bouncing around various English clubs.
When he joined Rangers in 2011, an infamous rivalry began with Scott Brown, providing the origin for the iconic ‘Broony’ celebration.
But this wasn’t his first interaction with Celtic. In a UEFA Cup tie in 2003, he spat at the Celtic Park crowd in an incident which tarnished his reputation forever.
He was heavily fined by his club and banned for two matches. Danny Murphy has discussed the infamous incident, and how Liverpool players reacted to the incident.
Danny Murphy on El Hadji Diouf’s spit vs Celtic
The tie finished 1-1, with Henrik Larsson’s early opener sending Parkhead wild before Emile Heskey equalised for the Reds.
The second leg became a famous night for the Celts, as goals from Alan Thompson and John Hartson sealed a 2-0 win at Anfield to send Martin O’Neill’s side through to the semi-finals.
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El Hadji Diouf leaves the field
Photo by Ben Radford/Getty Images
Speaking on Talksport with Jim White and Simon Jordan, Murphy was pushed on the incident, after Hannibal Mejbri’s recent suspension for spitting at an opponent.
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Murphy said: “Yeah, I was [playing in the game]. You can imagine what it was like playing at Celtic, it was incredible.
“We didn’t realise he’d done it until after. We saw it all going off, but we didn’t know whether there had been an argument, or… we didn’t know that he’d spat.
“And that wasn’t something that the lads took well. They frowned at him. You know the history with Diouf.
“I didn’t judge him only on that. You judge them every day on how they conduct themselves and that stuff – but he got reprimanded from the boys, yeah.
“He got told in no uncertain terms, ‘that’s not what you do’, and he apologised. He wasn’t the warmest character in the world, let’s say that. He was quite divisive.
“He was willing to speak his mind and have it out with people. So it wasn’t the best signing of Houlier’s era, let’s put it that way.”
El Hadji Diouf’s feud with Celtic in 2011
Upon his move to Rangers, Diouf faced Celtic on four occasions in a season uniquely filled with derbies.
But the most famous of them was at Ibrox, when Fraser Forster was sent off and Neil Lennon’s men had their backs against the wall. Brown’s stunning hit earned the ten men a replay, and that was the birth of his famous celebration.
Back at Celtic Park, Mark Wilson scored the only goal, but that was far from the only incident in the match.
The game was dubbed a ‘shame game’ as Rangers received three red cards and tensions reached the dugout, where Lennon and Ally McCoist squared off in an incident still being spoken about almost 15 years on.