{"id":71039,"date":"2025-05-03T11:39:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T11:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/71039\/"},"modified":"2025-05-03T11:39:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T11:39:08","slug":"rio-ferdinand-questions-chelseas-guard-of-honour-decision-as-liverpool-told-theyre-about-to-be-embarrassed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/71039\/","title":{"rendered":"Rio Ferdinand questions Chelsea’s guard of honour decision as Liverpool told they’re about to be ’embarrassed’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Liverpool will take to the field for the first time as newly-crowned Premier League champions on Sunday as they face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Blues are still fighting tooth and nail for a spot in next season\u2019s Champions League and should be well up for it as a result.<\/p>\n

For Liverpool<\/a>, their job has already been done this season. The Reds could lose all four of their remaining fixtures and it would not matter one bit.<\/p>\n

Still, having been confirmed as Premier League<\/a> winners last week, Liverpool will want to put on a show and underline their status as champions at one of the division\u2019s toughest away grounds.<\/p>\n

That determination should be reinforced when they receive a guard of honour from Chelsea at the start of Sunday\u2019s match.<\/p>\n

When the Reds take to the field at Stamford Bridge they will do so having been clapped on by Enzo Maresca\u2019s men. But although the guard of honour is a long-standing tradition in the game, Man United legend Rio Ferdinand<\/a> has questioned why it should be happening.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto by Alvaro Medranda\/Quality Sport Images\/Getty ImagesRio Ferdinand questions Liverpool guard of honour<\/p>\n

Giving a guard of honour to the champions is obviously not a compulsory rule in football.<\/p>\n

However, as Maresca confirmed during his press conference on Friday, he and his players will salute Liverpool\u2019s achievement as a mark of respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tradition,\u201d said the Chelsea boss. \u201cWe have to do that, and we are going to do that. They won the Premier League, so they deserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But despite Maresca\u2019s magnanimity, Ferdinand \u2013 and even former Liverpool striker Peter Crouch \u2013 were far less enthusiastic when asked about the subject on TNT Sports\u2019 Saturday morning Premier League coverage.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Gary Neville predicts what will happen in Chelsea vs Liverpool as Reds pay price for \u2018massive party<\/a>\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like it,\u201d said Crouch. \u201cI don\u2019t know, maybe it shows respect but I just don\u2019t get it. I think it\u2019s a bit embarrassing for the team that come out and it\u2019s highly embarrassing for the team that are clapping them on the field. It\u2019s not for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t like it,\u201d Ferdinand agreed. \u201cI\u2019ve been fortunate to receive the guard of honour and be on the receiving end of it. Both are quite awkward, Crouchy\u2019s exactly right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will other teams give Liverpool guard of honour?<\/p>\n

This is a bizarre conversation, really. There is no problem at all with a team giving the champions a mark of respect once they\u2019ve been confirmed as title winners.<\/p>\n

As Ferdinand says, he received it while a United player 15 years ago and we\u2019re sure he had no issue with it then, whatever his current complaints.<\/p>\n

Had Chelsea chosen not to give the guard of honour, it would also have been perfectly understandable, but it\u2019s nice that they have chosen to overlook any rivalry or pettiness and give Liverpool the respect they\u2019ve earned and deserve.<\/p>\n

From there, it feels likely that Liverpool will receive applause from all three of their other remaining opponents.<\/p>\n

The interesting one could be Arsenal at Anfield. But Mikel Arteta is a football man, and we\u2019d be surprised if he doesn\u2019t follow Maresca\u2019s lead and respect Liverpool\u2019s title. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool will take to the field for the first time as newly-crowned Premier League champions on Sunday as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,179,101,15038,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-71039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-liverpool","12":"tag-premier-league","13":"tag-rio-ferdinand","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114443712145094061","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}