Rooney may miss start of season
Alex Ferguson is concerned Wayne Rooney may be suspended for the start of the Barclays Premiership season.
Just 34 days after being sent off during England’s World Cup quarter-final defeat to Portugal, Rooney saw red again in Amsterdam last night.
Dutch referee Ruud Boosen brandished the red card in Rooney’s face three minutes from half-time in the 3-1 win over Porto after the striker caught defender Pepe in the face with a leading arm as he challenged for a header.
Rooney may miss the opening three Premiership games against Fulham, Charlton and Watford should Boosen decide to report what must constitute violent conduct.
But Ferguson was quick to defend the former Everton star, who seems to court controversy at every turn, insisting other players would have got away with the challenge.
The Scot explained: “There is an element of Wayne’s reputation going before him.
“I do not know what the referee was thinking because only a minute before that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was elbowed and he didn’t even warn the player.
“I do not see the difference between what the Porto player did and what Wayne did apart from one of the players is called Wayne Rooney.”
Rooney, who left the Amsterdam ArenA without comment, waited on the pitch for a replay of the incident on a big screen but tournament officials opted not to show the challenge again.
Ferguson continued: “Wayne was surprised.
“It was unfair because their player made a meal of the situation but unfortunately that sort of thing is endemic in our game now.”
As if Rooney’s dismissal was not bad enough, Ferguson was also left to reflect on a second red card, this time for veteran midfielder Paul Scholes.
Not for the first time in his career, Scholes’ lack of tackling prowess proved his undoing with a woeful tackle from behind on Ricardo Quaresma following only moments after a first yellow card.
“There is no excuse for Paul,” admitted Ferguson.
“It was a tackle from behind. Maybe it should have been a yellow card but as he had already been booked anyway, he would still have gone off.”
If both players are banned Ferguson faces a major selection headache for the Old Trafford encounter with Fulham on August 20.
The one piece of good news on that front was that the ankle injury Rio Ferdinand picked up in the warm-up is not too serious.
“We didn’t want to risk him,” said Ferguson. “But he should be okay for Seville.”
Ferdinand’s injury and the double dismissal took the gloss off an otherwise encouraging performance from the Red Devils.
Scholes profited from a pinpoint corner by £18.6million new-boy Michael Carrick to give United an early lead.
Rooney’s audacious chip made it two and even after the goalscoring duo had headed for the tunnel, Solskjaer buried a third for the nine men from an acute angle, the Norwegian putting three years of injury hell behind him.
Porto did bag a late consolation, although the result is nowhere near as important to United as knowing what Boosen will include in the report he will file of the game to the Dutch FA.
Ferguson admitted: “That is a worry.”
