Michael Owen has furiously responded to a social media post comparing himself and his former England and Manchester United clubmate Wayne Rooney.

The ex-Liverpool striker pulled no punches when replying to an X post from Match of the Day, which posed the question: “Who was the better player at the age of 17, Michael Owen or Wayne Rooney?”

Owen aggressively defended himself with a deep comparison of his and Rooney’s statistics in the comment section, listing off his achievements and rebuffing any suggestion that Rooney was the superior youngster.

“At 17, I scored 18 PL goals (winning the Golden Boot), Wazza scored six. At 18, I again scored 18 goals (again winning the Golden Boot and coming fourth in the Ballon d’Or), Wazza scored nine,” Owen replied on X. “In our opening seven seasons, Wazza didn’t outscore me once (117 goals vs. 80). In which time I became the second youngest Ballon d’Or winner ever.

“Injuries hindered me from then on while he sustained his level. Therefore, he’ll go down as a better player than me. But, at 17, please......”

Owen, who is the last English player to win the Ballon d’Or when scooping the prize in 2001, certainly has a point when it comes to his superior goalscoring output as a wonderkid. However, Rooney’s street footballer style will likely resonate with a larger percentage of English supporters.

Injuries prevented Owen from matching Rooney’s longevity but he still finished his career with an astonishing 150 strikes in 326 Premier League matches. Rooney produced 208 goals in the competition but needed 491 games to reach that total.

Both were phenomenal talents, bursting onto the scene as teenagers, but Rooney is the more complete and multi-dimensional forward—even if Owen was a better goalscorer.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Michael Owen Delivers Scathing Wayne Rooney Takedown.

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