London: A war of words has erupted between Manchester United and Chelsea after Alex Ferguson openly attacked the European champions’ complaint against Mark Clattenburg and told Roberto Di Matteo that the referee had actually done him “a favour” during the fractious match
Ferguson said that it was “unthinkable” that Clattenburg would have racially abused John Obi-Mikel and that Chelsea were wrong to make their complaint public so soon after the game.
United``s 3-2 Premier League win was overshadowed by claims from Chelsea that Clattenburg, who sent off two Chelsea men, used "inappropriate language" against them during the match.
In the wake of Fergie’s comments, Di Matteo has now mounted a fierce counter-attack and pointedly claimed that it was Ferguson’s Manchester United who always seem to benefit from refereeing decisions
“We take into consideration what other people say and use it as a motivational tool for ourselves. He [Ferguson] likes to talk about other clubs. We tend not to. I’ll leave it up to him. It doesn’t really affect me too much,” The Telegraph quoted Di Matteo, as saying.
According to the paper, earlier, Ferguson had joined Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger in contributing to the Clattenburg debate.
“I don’t believe Mark Clattenburg would make any comments like that I refuse to believe it. I think it’s unthinkable. Simple as that. There is no way a referee would stoop to that, I’m convinced about that. I’ve never heard of a player come to me in the last 15 years and say the referee swore in the game,” Ferguson had said.
ANI
First Published: Saturday, November 03, 2012, 18:24