I do love to see Alex Ferguson get into a bit of a 'paddy'.
Last night's match between his team, Manchester United, and the Spanish superstars of Real Madrid was a good encounter. Both sides had their moments and it was a pretty even game; there were several near misses at both ends and the result was, quite possibly, determined by the sending off of United's Nani.
At this point, of course, opinions diverge. The ITV studio crowd began their discussions with presenter Adrian Chiles referring repeatedly to the referee's shockingly bad decision; Lee Dixon backed him up and Gareth Southgate sat firmly on the fence. Thankfully, Roy Keane brought some sanity to the debate by stating, quite unequivocally, that Nani's ultra-high boot was 'dangerous play' and the referee had no choice but to send him off. Watching the replay from all of the angles available from the multitude of cameras in use, one has to agree; the tackle was dangerous, the referee was right and so was Keane.
The trouble is that Manchester United are 'our side' and they'd lost; most of the studio group felt obliged to find an excuse for the defeat and someone to blame. The referee was it. Alex Ferguson, for once, declined to be present for the usual post-match interview and sent his deputy along. Ferguson was reported to be too distraught after the events of the night; one suspects he was actually in such a tizz at what he would undoubtedly have seen as outrageously bad refereeing that he didn't trust himself, or his colleagues didn't trust him, not to create yet more disgraceful headlines by opening his mouth.
United may have been a little unlucky on the night but they can't blame the referee for their misfortune. Nani was in the wrong, disastrously so as it turned out, and 2 moments of brilliance from Real's stars turned the tie and sent United crashing out of the competition. Come on Alex, accept it and move on.
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