Jamie Carragher showed his quick wit and left Micah Richards in stitches by making a brutal joke about Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly.
The Liverpool legend had Richards chuckling in the aftermath of Borussia Dortmund 's narrow 1-0 victory over Chelsea on Wednesday in the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie. Karim Adeyemi's 63rd-minute goal separated the sides in Germany, leaving Blues boss Graham Potter and his players with an almighty task ahead of them for round two in three weeks' time.
Chelsea were beaten despite their £600million spending spree under Boehly over the last 10 months, prompting Carragher to crack a joke at the American tycoon's expense. "It's just come through on social media," the former England international began on CBS Sports. "Todd Boehly's put a bid in for the whole squad of Dortmund."
Alongside host Kate Abdo and fellow pundit Thierry Henry, Richards was hysterical before remarking: "Jamie!" while he was desperately trying to regain his composure on air. It's not the first time that Boehly has been ridiculed by a high-profile pundit, too.
BBC Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker recently quipped after watching the Blues draw 1-1 with Fulham: "If Chelsea are prepared to spend big in the summer they could become a threat."
There was still room for a serious debate in the studio, though, as Carragher picked out some of Chelsea's biggest issues amid what's been a wretched season at Stamford Bridge so far. "When you actually think of the money Chelsea have spent, not just in [January], in the August window as well, and to think you're playing a full season without a recognised, top-quality centre forward, it's just baffling," the ex-Liverpool centre-back declared.
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"You think, 'It's £600m being spent and you don't have someone at the top end of the pitch who can score a goal'. Chelsea's massive problem this season has been scoring goals. I think they've scored just more than maybe one goal a game in the Premier League, and that's nowhere near enough for a club the size of Chelsea and also the revenue that's been spent on that team, that's a massive problem."
At least under-fire manager Potter saw some positives from the Blues' performance on Wednesday, telling BT Sport : "Overall we were pleased with the performance for big parts of the game. It's complicated away from home in the Champions League, in a hostile environment, against a team that is in a good moment.
"So I thought it was an even first half, managed the game quite well, had some chances to counter, and hit the bar. Second half, apart from the one decisive action where we didn't do well enough, we were the dominant team and created some good chances. With a little bit of luck and final execution, we would have got the deserved goal. It is what it is, we just have to keep going. It's half-time, it's a tight game, and we'll look forward to Stamford Bridge."
