Arsene Wenger surprised at Rafa Benitez's Man Utd outburst

Jan 12 2009

ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger expressed his “surprise” after Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez claimed his Manchester United counterpart Sir Alex Ferguson had openly criticised referees and got away with it.

Benitez hit out on Friday at what he saw as Ferguson’s complete ignorance of the Football Association’s ‘Respect’ campaign towards officials, and complaints by the United manager about the Premier League fixture list.

Wenger admitted it was a shock to hear the usually composed and reserved Benitez say such things but insisted he did not expect it would have any bearing on the race for the Premier League title.

“It came as a complete surprise, because he is usually a quiet man and I would not like to comment further on that. I do not know what it was really about,” the Gunners manager said after his side’s 1-0 win over Bolton on Saturday.

“I do not know what he (Ferguson) is doing – you do not know either, nobody knows in the country!

“But if Alex Ferguson, or Benitez or I do something which is not right, you have people around the referees who can make reports.

“I believe it is important we focus on the game, if we see something abnormal we can say it, which I did at Aston Villa after the game (when Wenger claimed referee Lee Mason was influenced after being given ’stick’ by Villa staff).

“But apart from that, I couldn’t see any deep problem there with English football.”

“It is hard to determine what influence this will have on the results of the teams.”