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Jamie Carragher apologises to 14-year-old girl for spitting incident

Jamie Carragher has apologised to a 14-year-old girl for appearing to spit at her after Manchester United beat Liverpool 2-1 at Old Trafford on Saturday.

The teenage United fan was sat in the passenger seat while her father was driving and talking to the former Liverpool and England defender about the game.

When the driver repeatedly mentioned the score, Carragher is heard to say, "Alright," before appearing to spit at the car alongside his.

The incident, recorded by the girl's father, ends with the girl saying to her father that Carragher's spittle had hit her in the face.

In a tweet on Sunday night, Carragher wrote: "Totally out of order & Ive apologised personally to all the family this evening. I was goaded 3/4 times along the motorway while being filmed & lost my rag. No excuse apologies.''

Carragher said on Monday as he arrived at London's Euston station from Liverpool: "I'll speak to the family again. I'm sorry. I'll apologise again today properly."

Asked if he had seen the girl in the car, he replied: "I didn't to be honest, she was leant back. I wish she wasn't involved. I hate that she was involved more than anything."

Danny Murphy, Carragher's former Liverpool teammate, told talkSPORT on Monday that Carragher had a "genuine remorse" when the two spoke earlier that morning.

"He was flat because of it," Murphy told Jim White. "He disappointed himself. He let himself down and those around him, because those around him know he's a good person, genuinely. He's not like that. He's a family man.

"He spoke to the family and he's apologised personally. When you make a mistake in life -- and I've made worse ones than that -- you have to own them. You have to apologise and show remorse. That's what you do as a human being, a decent human being, and he's done that. So, first and foremost, it needs to be stated that he's genuinely sorry for what he's done."

Murphy also said Carragher asked him to clarify the circumstances of the incident.

"The main bit, which he wants me to stress, is that if there was a young girl sat in the passenger seat that he could see in the line of fire, if you'd like -- the spitting was aimed at the dad," Murphy said. "The girl was sat back and reclined in the chair and he said that his anger and frustration was aimed at the father.

"Some of it obviously hit her, so that makes it worse in terms of the perception because there's a young girl involved, but I think, whether it's a girl or a man, the spitting is wrong, isn't it? Let's face facts. All of those people are getting upset because there's a young girl in the front seat. Now, [the father] filming and her reclining the seat -- it doesn't justify the spitting. [Carragher is] a father, with two kids and a daughter, so there's a little bit of context needed in thinking he saw a young girl and decided to spit at a young girl. That's not quite right in his moment of madness."

Carragher has previously described spitting as "vile" in a column for the Daily Mail in 2015.

Commenting on the incident at the time which saw Jonny Evans and Papiss Cisse both serve lengthy bans for spitting at each other during a match between Manchester United and Newcastle, Carragher wrote: "As usual, there have been a number of people who have said 'it is the worst thing that can happen on a pitch'; it is vile but let me assure you now -- I would have preferred Lucas Neill to have spat at me the day he broke my leg in September 2003!

"I was spat at once in my career. It came during a UEFA Cup game against Celta Vigo in 1998 and the player in question was a Russian midfielder called Aleksandr Mostovoi. I was shocked more than angry when he did it because I couldn't believe what had happened.

"One final thing: all those people who have said about Evans 'he's not that type of lad.' Who is then? Is there are a list somewhere of names who are 'that type'? It is a stupid thing to say. It's not about his character. It's about whether he had a moment of madness, deliberately or not."

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