Fergie fumes over Chelsea’s foul play

LONDON - A furious Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, accused Chelsea players of foul play on Sunday and blasted referee Chris Foy for failing to send off German captain Michael Ballack at Wembley.

The Chelsea midfielder elbowed Manchester United’s Patrice Evra, sending the defender sprawling.

Foy let play continue, but Fergie said: “If the referee sees it properly, it’s a red card. He’s elbowed him clearly. He’s in line and had a clear view, so he’s lucky. The least he should have done is stop the game.”

Fergie also accused the Chelsea stars of feigning injury to halt the match.

He snapped: “When it came to their second goal, the referee’s made a rod for his own back. He’d stopped the game twice already. Once when Nani was down and then when Ballack was down - we’ve seen that before with him.

“The referee said it was a serious incident and he needed treatment, though Ballack was up straight away. When players are acting to get the game stopped it’s an area I’m concerned about.

It’s not right. Something has to be done about it. If the referees put more onus on the players again to stop the game, then fine. But he didn’t get it right today. You have to be consistent and he did it twice, but not a third time,” said Ferguson

Evra was later booked for a lunge at Ballack.

However, The Sun quoted Fergie as saying: “It was a fantastic tackle, actually. And Ballack did not complain. That’s unusual.” (ANI)