Fergie fumes at Ballack and referee after Evra clash

LONDON — Sir Alex Ferguson claimed Michael Ballack should have been sent off for the foul on Patrice Evra that ignited a furious row during Chelsea's Community Shield victory over Manchester United on Sunday.

Ballack pole-axed Evra with a cynical elbow during the second half at Wembley and Chelsea then ignored United's appeals to allow the defender to receive treatment by breaking to score through Frank Lampard.

The Blues eventually won 4-1 on penalties after a 2-2 draw to end United's two-year reign as Community Shield holders and Ferguson was quick to point the finger at Ballack and referee Chris Foy.

"If the referee sees it properly it is a red card. He has clearly elbowed him. The referee had a clear view of it, he was in line, he should have seen it," Ferguson said.

"The referee made a rod for his own back. He stopped play twice, once when Nani was tackled, then on the second occasion Ballack went down, which we've seen before! The ref said it was a serious incident when Ballack went down but he was up straight away.

"So I don't understand why he didn't do it with Evra. When you see the replay you see Ballack has elbowed him. But it's hard to blame the Chelsea players for carrying on. It's a professional game."

Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea's new manager, agreed that his players had done nothing wrong by opting to carry on playing rather than kicking the ball out.

"A referee can stop the play and also the players can put out the ball," Ancelotti said. "They didn't see Evra on the pitch so they continued. If they had seen him a Chelsea player would have put the ball out."

Chelsea midfielder Lampard added: "Anyone should look at the rules. It's up to the referee to stop it but Man United just stopped when their man was down.

"It's in the rules, when the referee stops it he stops it. We carried on and I'm sure United would have down the same in that position."

Ferguson's mood wasn't improved by the news that Portgual winger Nani, who had scored in the first half, had dislocated his shoulder after falling under a tackle from John Terry.

Nani will miss Portugal's friendly against Liechtenstein on Wednesday and could be sidelined for several weeks.

Ancelotti was pleased to win a trophy in his first match but he revealed he delivered a half-time dressing down to his players.

"I'm very happy now for sure, but I was not happy at half-time. In the first half Manchester played very well and we didn't play for 30 minutes.

"We improved in the second half because we put more strength on the field and we deserved to win.

"It is an important start to the season. We have to improve because we changed a little bit the play of the team and we still have to work."

Ancelotti also dismissed a report in England on Sunday that claimed the Italian had made a 40 million pounds bid to sign Brazilian striker Pato from his former club AC Milan.

"It is not true because Pato is a Milan player," Ancelotti said. "He is a young player and Milan believe a lot in Pato. They sold Kaka and now Pato is an important player for them."

By Steve Griffiths (AFP)

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