On this day: Portsmouth skipper slams Spurs striker Mido following Egyptian's 'disrespectful' remarks about former Arsenal ace Sol Campbell

The Egyptian international cranked up the heat on Campbell’s then latest White Hart Lane return by taunting: ‘He’s the easiest defender I have ever played against’,

The stinging criticism came ahead of Pompey's top-flight visit to north London.

At the time they were set to face a Martin Jol side who had gone 433 Premiership minutes without scoring.

Mido was confident that barren spell would end when up against the former England man.

But Blues skipper Stefanovic was swift to leap to the defence of his Fratton Park team-mate.

He told The News: ‘This is unbelievable. I hope Sol is going to show him what he thinks of this.

‘For someone to say that about an England international who has played for his country for a very long time and also won many trophies with Arsenal is terrible.

‘That is disrespectful and I am disappointed to hear such words.

'But Sol is a good character – he won’t let it affect him.

‘Sol is back to his old form he showed at Arsenal.

‘He is playing his best football for one or two seasons, he’s been superb for us so far.

‘Different kinds of people have different opinions. Maybe Mido said that because he’s scared to play and they have not scored for a long time.

‘I don’t know why he said this. It is really disrespectful to Sol.’

Pompey boss Harry Redknapp also laid into the Spurs striker.

‘What an arrogant thing to say,’ said Redknapp.

‘It shows a total lack of respect and those comments will embarrass every footballer in the game as we don’t talk like that about fellow pros.’

Mido had come up against Campbell with Ajax in the Champions League and in a north-London derby when his physical presence troubled the then 32-year-old.

Mido boasted: 'I have so much confidence in myself and I don’t have any doubts.

‘Portsmouth is a really important game for us now.

‘They have Sol Campbell at the back and he is the easiest defender I have ever played against. I’m not scared of him.’

Spurs did end their barren run in front of goal against Pompey after they ran out 2-1 winners at White Hart Lane.

However, Mido played no part as remained on the bench as he saw Danny Murphy and then a Jermain Defoe penalty cancel out Kanu’s goal for the Blues.

That season the Egyptian scored one top-flight goal and just five in all competitions.