Azerbaijan’s coach Carlos Alberto delivered a bizzare personal attack on Real Madrid striker Michael Owen on Wednesday, after mistakenly believing the England striker had belittled his team.
The captain of Brazil’s great 1970 World Cup winning team said he had read in a newspaper that Owen predicted he would score at least five goals against the Azerbaijan after they lost 8-0 to Poland last weekend.
The England striker, who failed to score in a 2-0 World Cup qualifying win for Sven-Goran Eriksson’s men, however had made no such prediction.
The Brazilian legend, who led his country to World Cup success in 1970, dismissed Owen’s talent as he asked: “Who is he anyway, what has he ever won? He should wash his tongue and clean David Beckham’s boots.”
Eriksson listened in amazement at the attack.
“That’s not his style – he might have said he’d hoped he’d score a lot of goals,” he said.
“But that he would say he’d go out and score five goals against any team, no. That’s not Michael Owen. And I’m sorry if there was a misunderstanding.”
