By MARK IRWIN
ALEX FERGUSON stuck the boot into Fernando Torres and claimed the £50million Chelsea striker DESERVED to be sent off for diving.
The Manchester United manager was involved in a heated touchline row with Blues boss Roberto Di Matteo following Torres’ 68th-minute dismissal.
And he reckoned that the European champions should have had THREE red cards but ref Mark Clattenburg bottled sending off John Obi Mikel.
Torres had already been booked for a foul on Tom Cleverley when he went down under a challenge from United defender Jonny Evans.
Both Evans and Ferguson later admitted that there was contact, but the United boss insisted: “Torres could have gone on and he didn’t.
“I think Jonny may have caught him just a little but you can carry on running and he chose to go down.
“He could have carried on and scored, that’s what I don’t understand.
“When I was a player, I would never have missed the chance to go through. I would have taken that opportunity to score every time.
“But he’s gone down and that is the issue. And he’s already been booked, so it’s his own fault.”
Evans added: “At the time I didn’t feel I made any contact but I’ve seen it again and I made a bit of contact — but not enough to bring him down.
“I think he probably realised he wasn’t going to get the ball and went down.
“So I think the referee has made the right decision to send him off.”
Branislav Ivanovic had already been sent off for tripping Ashley Young on the edge of the Chelsea area when Torres was given his marching orders.
And Ferguson claimed Mikel should also have received a second yellow for a late foul on Antonio Valencia.
He said: “I thought it got a bit tasty when Chelsea were down to nine men and I can’t understand the booking of Antonio because he was right through and there was no reason for him to go down.
“I think he was definitely taken out and he’s been booked for it because it was Mikel and he had already been booked.
“I think that’s the reason the referee had to do that because he would have had to send Mikel off.” Yet former United skipper Gary Neville reckoned Torres was hard done by, even if he should have received a straight red for his first-half foul on Cleverley.
He claimed: “The first booking was a straight red card because it was clearly dangerous and violent.
“But two wrongs don’t make a right and the referee got both decisions wrong because the second card wasn’t a yellow.
“There’s a public outcry about diving and we’re all calling them cheats, but they’re not cheats. They might just be anticipating the challenge.”
United’s winning goal also came after sub Javier Hernandez came back from an offside position to convert Rafael’s 75th-minute shot.
Ferguson admitted: “They say the winning goal could have been offside and that is a bit of luck we got.
“It’s been 10 years since we last won at Chelsea and there have been some shocking decisions down here in that time.”
But Blues boss Roberto Di Matteo was convinced his team had been robbed as they suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season.
Ironically, he was just about to bring Torres off when the Spanish striker received his second yellow — although he had no complaints about Ivanovic’s sending off.
Di Matteo said “Branislav’s was a harsh one because he tried to get out of the way. But he clipped Young’s heel and the ref probably thought he was the last man.
“But at 2-2 I was very confident that we were going to go on and win.
“Even when we were down to nine men we could have hung on for the draw but for the offside goal.”
Now these two bitter rivals will meet again at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday in the Capital One Cup.
Ferguson said: “It’s going to be lively. Good luck to the referee!”
