'Midget' Owen hits back

Michael Owen today hit back at Carlos Alberto after he labelled him a "midget" and told him to clean David Beckham's boots with his tongue.

Alberto, Brazil's captain when they won the World Cup in 1970, launched the astonishing attack on the striker following England's 2-0 World Cup victory over Azerbaijan at St James' Park last night.

The Azerbaijan coach was reacting to a newspaper article in which, he alleged, Owen had boasted that England would match Poland's 8-0 win and that he would score five.

But Owen said: "If he [Carlos Alberto] checks my pre-match quotes he will realise that I never said anything about scoring five goals - I would never be so disrespectful.

"He would, though, be perfectly within his rights to criticise my performance - I've certainly had better games in an England shirt.

"I will learn from the experience and continue to improve as a player and person because of it."

The Real Madrid star missed a stream of chances last night as goals from Beckham and Steven Gerrard guided England to a victory which keeps them top of Group Six.

But despite Owen's disappointing night, England captain and Real Madrid team-mate Beckham leapt to his defence.

Beckham said: "He's one of the best strikers in the world and he needs more respect than that. I am sure Carlos-Alberto would love to have Michael in his side.

"He plays for Real Madrid and he's England's leading scorer and that says it all."

Alberto launched his postmatch tirade against Owen and said: "Who is he anyway? What has he won. He should wash his tongue and clean David Beckham's boots.

"This man said that if Poland beat Azerbaijan 8-0, England should score eight goals and he'd score five. I refuse to talk about him anymore. I will talk about Beckham, Rooney, Ferdinand or Lampard but not this midget."

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said: "Michael would never say things like that."