Gary Lineker has leapt to David Beckham 's defence after Piers Morgan branded the Manchester United legend "the most overrated player in history".
The Match of the Day host, 61, bickered at length with the former Good Morning Britain presenter, 56, on Monday, with the latter also referring to Beckham as a "fame-hungry snail" on social media.
The former England captain, 46, is regarded as one of football's greatest icons and he was famed throughout his playing days for his astonishing crossing and set-piece-taking ability.
He won numerous titles throughout his time at Old Trafford and added to his trophy cabinet with Real Madrid, LA Galaxy and Paris Saint-Germain.
However, Morgan is nonplussed by Beckham's decorated career and used Sunday night's Super Bowl to aim a dig at him.
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Posting a picture of Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr, who scored the game's first touchdown, Morgan wrote: "Great to watch a Beckham who can actually play football..."
Lineker hit back at his long-standing Twitter adversary on Monday morning, responding: "You might dislike him, for whatever reason, but David Beckham was a great footballer. One of our finest."
Morgan used Lineker's phrasing with a mocking reply which reads: "You might want to suck up to him, for whatever reason, but Beckham was the most overrated player in history. Wouldn't have got onto the Arsenal Invincibles bench."
He doubled down on his stance by asserting Gunners hero Freddie Ljungberg, a key member of the team which went undefeated in the 2003/04 Premier League campaign, was in a "different league".
But Lineker would not let this slide and responded by listing Beckham's vast achievements, writing: "6 Premier Leagues, 2 FA Cups, 1 Champions League, 1 La Liga, 1 Ligue 1.
"Ballon d'Or runner up. 115 caps for England, 59 as captain. One of the best crossers of the ball the game has ever seen. Yeah, overrated."
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Despite Beckham's array of honours throughout his time with United and further afield, Morgan claims he owes his success to the star-studded teams he was a part of.
"Take away the crossing & free-kicks, he was a fame-hungry snail with dumb haircuts who only won that much because of the truly great players around him," Morgan added.
Refusing to back down, Lineker rubbished Morgan's suggestion with a comparison to Cristiano Ronaldo.
The former Leicester and Barcelona striker wrote: "Take away the crossing and free kicks? That's the equivalent of saying about Ronaldo, 'Take away the goals'."
