LONDON, January 22- Carlos Tevez has admitted that he was hurt by Gary Neville's assertion that Manchester United were right to sell him to Manchester City and accused his former team-mate of being disrespectful ahead of this week's stormy derby clash.Neville’s provocative comments inspired Tevez to score two goals in in City’s 2-1 League Cup semi-final first leg win on Tuesday and the Argentina striker claimed he had been justified in goading his former team-mate after the first of them.
Neville, who was warming up on the touchline, responded with a one-fingered gesture that is being examined by the English Football Association but is not expected to lead to any disciplinary action.
Tevez admitted he had been enraged by Neville’s pre-match comments.
"Gary was very disrespectful, which is out of character, but he didn’t know the whole story of why I left Manchester United and I believe I deserved his respect," the striker said.
"We achieved a lot together at United, I was the second top scorer there in my first season at the club and I deserve respect from my fellow professionals."
Tevez, who celebrated his second goal with an ear-cupping gesture to the United directors and dugout, said he felt he was justified in making his point.
"Football is a form of theatre and it was just a form of banter," he said. "There was nothing malicious intended. I was not trying to incite anyone but I was entitled to say to Neville that he should have been more respectful.
"For the second goal I ran to the touchline and cupped my ears and looked up to the part of the ground where the United directors were sitting, and also to Ferguson in the dugout, because I wanted them to know this was my response to them saying I was not worth the money.
"People from United have been speaking about me publicly and criticising me but I wanted to do my talking on the pitch because that was the best way of responding to all these people, such as Neville, who were saying United were right to let me go."
