AC Milan
AC Milan

Micah Richards was moved to tears after witnessing  punditry colleague Jamie Carragher’s comical attempts at interviewing AC Milan star Rafael Leao. On Tuesday evening, the couple were working together as they watched the Italian champions secure a 1-1 draw with Serie A rivals Napoli to book their place in the Champions League semi-finals.

After the final whistle, CBS interviewed Portuguese attacker Leao, with ex-Liverpool defender Carragher eager to hear his thoughts on who he wants to face in the last four. Micah Richards, a former Manchester City defender, burst out laughing after Carragher stumbled through a humorous interview with the AC Milan winger.

AC Milan
AC Milan star Rafael Leao was confused with Jamie Carragher’s accent which led Micah Richards to burst out into laughter. Credits: Twitter

AC Milan winger Leao confused with Carragher’s hilarious accent

Leao assisted Olivier Giroud’s opener in the second leg, which ended 1-1 and saw AC Milan advance 2-1 on aggregate. Carragher, a former Liverpool star, was tasked with interviewing the Portuguese forward on American television following the game. He attempted to elicit Leao’s sentiments on the possibility of facing city rival Inter in the following round, but instead left the striker perplexed and his studio colleagues in laughter.

Carragher asked: “Rafael, when you see the games tomorrow, obviously the big rival of yours Inter Milan are in the other semi-final. Would you like that? A big semi-final with your biggest rivals?”

Unfortunately, the 23-year-old appeared to be having difficulty comprehending what Carragher was saying and requested him to repeat the question. That prompted the former Liverpool star to point to his teammates and exclaim: “They have the same problem.”

Kate Abdo, the show’s host, then chimed in with her funny opinion. She said: “He’s a scouser, don’t worry, it’s difficult.”

Carragher delayed his words to try to clarify his query before asking: “Inter Milan are playing tomorrow, Internazionale, would you like to play them in the semi-final?”

Despite this, Leao appeared to be confused, and it needed more confirmation from someone behind the scenes for him to eventually answer the question. The AC Milan forward responded, saying:

“Will be good always to play against them. For us, against Inter, will be a great game. I think the passion will be put on the game will be the same as today or more because playing against them. The atmosphere will be crazy in Milan so we have to give 100 per cent.”

The exchange did not end there, however, as both Abdo and Richards burst out laughing, the latter concluding the interview with another joke at Carragher’s expense. She said: “You’re not alone by the way. This show goes out to America so you now know how all of America feels when Jamie Carragher talks, they have similar problems understanding his accent so thank you for your patience, we appreciate you.”

Despite maintaining his cool during the interview, Richards burst out laughing as tears streamed down his cheeks, while also attempting to reason with his mortified colleague. The former Man City man exclaimed: “Jamie, seriously [laughs]. Your broken English and you go Internazionale. What? If he didn’t understand Inter, how was he going to know Internazionale? Using his broken English accent as well!”

At this point, Arsenal legend Thierry Henry was laughing while Richards sobbed, as Abdo said: “I’ve never seen you cry like this [Micah].”

AC Milan are hoping to keep their bid of reaching the 12th Champions League final alive, with city rivals Inter, who won the first leg of their last eight encounter 2-0 against Benfica last week, standing in their way. This would re-create another all-Milanese semi-final, like the one in 2003 if Benfica fail to overcome the two-goal deficit against Simone Inzaghi’s men.