Michael Owen angry with 'diver' tag: I'm no cheat - but I do go down easily

No diver: Stoke City's Michael Owen

The Stoke striker was discussing the increase in simulation throughout the modern game at the Leaders in Football conference, and admitted he had been guilty in the past of hitting the deck unnecessarily.

Referring to the penalty he won as an 18-year-old against Argentina in France 98, Owen said: ‘I was running flat out, got a nudge, went down. Could I have stayed up? Yeah, probably.

‘Four years later I got a penalty, again against Argentina, and again I could have stayed on my feet.’

But the former Manchester United man has reacted angrily to morning headlines, which have paraphrased his comments into an admission of diving.

The 32-year-old tweeted: ‘To have a headline saying: Owen “I dived to win a penalty” is disgraceful.

‘To clarify, I have never won a penalty through diving and didn't say so yesterday, despite what the headlines say.

‘I have, however, gone down, WHEN FOULED, when I could have stayed on my feet.

‘This is a regular occurrence in every league in the World. In two separate World Cups against Argentina, this was the case.

‘As Pierluigi Collina said yesterday, "If touched and fouled, a player has every right to go to ground."

‘If that is wrong then virtually every foul that is seen on a football field is wrong. Very few tackles are delivered with the force required to knock somebody off their feet.

‘It is an art for an attacking player to entice a defender to make a wrong decision.

‘To clarify: I have never dived to win a penalty without being touched. I don't condone it and I think it should be stamped out of the game.’