A furious England captain David Beckham has hit back at a German journalist for attacking his family.
Beckham, 31, said: "For some reason this one person has found it funny to criticise my mum, my sister, my children. It's just one sad person sat in a room thinking of one thing that maybe can try to put me off the next game.
"I'm not going to let it put me off one of the biggest football competitions in the world."
Beckham warned: "I can take the criticism - but leave my family alone."
The Mirror says Tobias Holtkamp, writing in Germany's biggest selling tabloid Bild, claimed Becks's sister Joanne looked like a pig and was "the type of Brit who would dance topless on holiday in Spain after necking copious amounts of Sangria".
Becks hit back, saying Holtkamp had taken the personal attacks too far.
He added: "I don't want to give these people more publicity than they've already had. I've come to terms with people criticising me as a footballer but when it comes to my family that's one thing I will never accept."
The article featured pictures of his two elder children Brooklyn and Romeo -which it labelled "dwarfs" - his mum Sandra, 52, wife Victoria, and Joanne.
Showbiz columnist Holtkamp called on the paper's five million readers to nickname them "the Addams family" for the duration of the tournament.
Becks vowed: "I'm not accepting it but you have to realise there are some people out there who are a little bit sad."
FA spokesman Adrian Bevington said of Becks: "He could have asked for Bild to be excluded from the press conference but he has not done that. It is a personal matter but I think that says a great deal about his attitude towards it. He has risen above this."
Beckham, 31, said: "For some reason this one person has found it funny to criticise my mum, my sister, my children. It's just one sad person sat in a room thinking of one thing that maybe can try to put me off the next game.
"I'm not going to let it put me off one of the biggest football competitions in the world."
Beckham warned: "I can take the criticism - but leave my family alone."
The Mirror says Tobias Holtkamp, writing in Germany's biggest selling tabloid Bild, claimed Becks's sister Joanne looked like a pig and was "the type of Brit who would dance topless on holiday in Spain after necking copious amounts of Sangria".
Becks hit back, saying Holtkamp had taken the personal attacks too far.
He added: "I don't want to give these people more publicity than they've already had. I've come to terms with people criticising me as a footballer but when it comes to my family that's one thing I will never accept."
The article featured pictures of his two elder children Brooklyn and Romeo -which it labelled "dwarfs" - his mum Sandra, 52, wife Victoria, and Joanne.
Showbiz columnist Holtkamp called on the paper's five million readers to nickname them "the Addams family" for the duration of the tournament.
Becks vowed: "I'm not accepting it but you have to realise there are some people out there who are a little bit sad."
FA spokesman Adrian Bevington said of Becks: "He could have asked for Bild to be excluded from the press conference but he has not done that. It is a personal matter but I think that says a great deal about his attitude towards it. He has risen above this."
