Jamie Carragher, during Wednesday evening’s Champions League coverage via CBS Sports, had to depart at the half-time interval, leaving Thierry Henry, Micah Richards and host Kate Scott to continue the evening's proceedings in his absence.
The Liverpool icon, who turned out 737 times for the Reds during his playing career, was visibly not up to scratch during the infancy of Wednesday night’s show but battled through until cameras returned to the studio and the star-studded panel were ready.
Carragher, 47, returned to his usual spot in the CBS studio after his beloved Liverpool were knocked out of Europe’s premier competition on Tuesday night by Paris Saint-Germain, whose perfect barrage of penalties shocked the Anfield club.
In fact, the former defender-turned-pundit – who is widely regarded as one of the best one-club players in Premier League history – was in attendance at Anfield the night prior but was back inside to run the rule over Wednesday’s night of action.
Leaving his Liverpool bias at home, he re-joined Henry, Abdo and Richards to run the rule over Aston Villa’s 3-0 victory over Belgian outfit Club Brugge and Arsenal’s second leg of their tie with PSV Eindhoven after the Gunners won 7-1 in Holland last week.
Despite Liverpool’s premature exit the night before, he was his usual chirpy self and even shared a story of how a train driver – who was a keen supporter of Arsenal – had mocked him during his journey from Liverpool to the CBS Sports’ studios in the capital.
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Per Mail Online, Carragher’s had fallen ill and his unspecified illness was serious enough for the ex-England defender to cut his night short. When Richards and Henry questioned where their friend had gone, Scott was quick to explain to them (and the audience members) that Carragher had fallen ill and had to call it a night.
Poking fun at Carragher and his side's defeat to PSG upon his return to work on Wednesday, Scott said: "Hello, welcome to our London studios. I am Kate Scott, and I am once again joined by Thierry Henry and Micah Richards. Tonight, just like the story of the prodigal son."
A bit too big for his boots, he thought life would be sweeter on the road. He thought he would be away, enjoying drinking and revelling, but he took a major loss and realised his foolishness. He came home, humbled. Hoping that he would be accepted. Jamie Carragher, back in the chair.
Before leaving the CBS set upon the half-time break, Carragher couldn't help but offer his thoughts and feelings towards Liverpool's penalty shootout woes against PSG. He, relaying his point from yesterday's post-match interview, suggested that a peculiar coin toss put the Reds at a disadvantage from the outset.
"One thing I couldn't work out with the penalties was, obviously there was a coin toss with Virgil van Dijk [and PSG's captain]. PSG must've won it to take it to the other end [away from the Kop] but then also took the first penalty. So I wasn't quite sure what happened there," he said.