Carlos Tevez has hit back at Gary Neville by accusing the Manchester United player of showing him no respect.

Tevez left Old Trafford to join arch rivals Manchester City last summer, and was at the centre of the action during City's 2-1 Carling Cup semi-final defeat of United on Tuesday.

Tevez leveled Ryan Giggs' opener shortly before half-time and duly gestured to Neville that he was out of order to claim in a recent newspaper article that United were right to let the Argentina international leave the Theatre of Dreams.

Neville, who was warming up on the touchline when Tevez scored, duly responded to his former teammate's taunt with an obscene one-fingered gesture - something that could land him in hot water with England's footballing authorities

"Gary Neville was disrespectful to me. It is wrong for one professional to criticise another in the way he did when he did not know the full facts," Tevez is reported as saying by The Sun.

"I was not trying to be offensive to him when I celebrated, I was just trying to make a point to him."

The Argentina striker also gestured towards the United directors but insists there was "nothing malicious intended".

"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.

"I felt in my two years at Old Trafford I earned the respect of the management and players for what I achieved.

"I won five trophies and was the club's second top scorer.

"I do not believe I have deserved some of the comments that have come out since.

"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.

"If they want to have a dig at me I will enjoy scoring a goal against them.

"Football is a form of theatre and it was just a form of banter. 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."

Tevez scored City's second in the crucial win. The second leg is scheduled to be played at Old Trafford next Wednesday.