Real Madrid's Owen eyes cricket score against Azerbaijan

Real Madrid striker Michael Owen is aiming to rack up a cricket score against Azerbaijan tomorrow.
The England ace said: "The chances to rack up a cricket score in international football are few and far between these days. So if the opportunity is there on Wednesday we've got the ruthless streak to take advantage of it."

"Their result in Poland has got everyone thinking there could be a good few goals for us."

"When I was growing up you'd quite often see England winning by six, seven or eight goals."

"In some ways, we'd have preferred Azerbaijan not to have lost by eight because it raises everyone's expectations."

"But we'll go into this game with the same attitude we had against Northern Ireland."

Owen, 25, has scored 21 of his 29 international goals in competitive games, an achievement bettered only by Lineker's 22.

He added: "I wasn't aware of that record but it would be very nice to break it."

"I do know if I get one more goal I'll become England's fourth top scorer of all time. I checked on that one in the programme on Saturday."

Owen was also unaware the individual scoring record in one game is held by Malcolm Macdonald, who scored all the goals in a 5-0 defeat of Cyprus in 1975.

He said: "I've scored four on a couple of occasions but I don't think I've ever got five."

"On paper Wednesday's game looks like an opportunity to get a few goals and if that proves to be the case I'm sure all the team will be pressing on to please the fans."