Then Ferguson hits back at rival

SIR ALEX FERGUSON has branded Rafael Benitez as being “disturbed”, “angry” and making “absolutely ridiculous” claims as the fall-out to the Spaniard’s attack on the Manchester United manager rumbled on yesterday.

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

Ferguson responded to Benitez’s blast following yesterday’s 3-0 victory over Chelsea at Old Trafford, which moved United to within five points of league leaders Liverpool.

And Ferguson said: “Well, I think you have got to cut through the venom of it, and hopefully he will reflect and understand that what he was saying was absolutely ridiculous.

“I think he was an angry man and I think he was disturbed for some reason. That’s all I’ve got to say about it.”

Asked to respond to Benitez’s assertion that he was merely quoting “facts”, Ferguson added: “Well, they’re not because it’s well-documented.

“I’m not going to get into that because at this moment in time I think we should concentrate on chasing the leaders, which is Liverpool, and we’ve got games in hand and we want to try to catch them up.”