The British record £29.3million capture from Leeds landed awkwardly under pressure from Marcelo Delgado as the pair leapt to avoid the onrushing Roy Carroll after 25 minutes of an anything but friendly clash with Boca Juniors, who finished with 10 men following the dismissal of star man Carlos Tevez.

Ferdinand immediately fell to the ground in agony and although he managed to rise after lengthy treatment, he was clearly still in a lot of pain and unable to put any pressure on his leg.

An anxious Sir Alex Ferguson made his way to the touchline but Ferdinand was unable to continue and made his way unhappily down the tunnel.

With a Champions League qualifying trip to Hungary just four days away and a Premier League opener against West Brom next week, it was the last thing Ferguson needed, particularly as he was already without French keeper Fabien Barthez through injury.

Barthez had failed to recover from the thigh muscle strain which forced him out of training on Thursday and like Ferdinand, must now be rated very doubtful for the trip to Budapest to face Zalagaerszeg on Wednesday.

But, in the presence of ’James Bond’ Roger Moore, United would have been thankful to escape with just one problem as Boca produced a series of dirty tricks after taking exception to the physical approach of second half substitute Paul Scholes.

The England star is more than aware that his days as a United first choice are limited unless he can quickly regain top form.

And the flame-haired midfielder made his intentions clear with a couple of biting tackles, which left Boca distinctly aggrieved.

After Scholes had then been unfortunate to see three separate chances fail to find the target, Boca hit back – literally in Tevez’s case.

The 18-year-old has established himself as one of the outstanding young players in South America but left referee Mike Riley little option than to flash the red card as he caught Scholes in the face with a swinging left elbow.

Scholes recovered from that but when he next received possession he was felled again by Hector Bracamonte. The United man exacted swift revenge but for a while, the match, arranged to raise funds for UNICEF, threatened to spin completely out of control.

It all took the gloss off a composed United display in which Ruud van Nistelrooy signalled his intent to match last year’s 36-goal haul by bagging a first half brace which effectively sealed the contest.

The Dutchman’s fluid partnership with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer seems to have survived the summer, while David Beckham looked lively on the right and almost certainly played his way into the United team for Wednesday’s dare-not-lose encounter.

United controlled the contest once Rolando Schiavi had blazed over in the opening stages.

Van Nistelrooy put them ahead after 17 minutes when the Dutchman ran onto Juan Sebastian Veron’s inspired chip and though his shot was scuffed, it left Roberto Abbondacieri stranded and rolled into the corner.

Ferdinand’s departure sent a pall of gloom over a crowd approaching 60,000 but Beckham did his best to raise them with a couple of inspired right wing crossed which Abbondacieri somehow survived.

However, the Boca keeper was powerless to prevent van Nistelrooy making it two just before the break when he took Solskjaer’s threaded through ball in his stride and despatched a first time shot into the left hand corner.

Laurent Blanc went close shortly afterwards but the sparks really started to fly on Scholes’ introduction shortly after the interval.

Solskjaer tapped home a rebound after Abbondacieri blocked the midfielder’s volley, only to have the goal ruled out for offside.

Abbondacieri then denied Scholes with his foot after being deceived by another first-time effort, and was then beaten completely as Beckham’s corner fell invitingly to his England team-mate, only for the woodwork to deny the diminutive midfield man.

He had already left a couple of Boca players clutching their battered limbs, so Terez decided to sort Scholes out.

Under the circumstances, Ferguson would have been relieved to see his man recover from the elbow assault, but it just brought more pain.

To their credit though, the players eventually saw sense and the game petered out, leaving Ferguson to take an anxious weekend body count and no doubt revising his immediate plans.