Mike Phelan reported Manchester United's dressing room to be 'distraught' after the UEFA Champions League defeat by Real Madrid and described the decision to send off Nani as 'amazing'.
United appeared to be in control of the second leg of the last-16 tie when Nani's low cross early in the second half was turned into his own net by Sergio Ramos.
However, Nani was then shown a red card for catching Alvaro Arbeloa before goals from Luka Modric and United old boy Cristiano Ronaldo sent Real through 3-2 on aggregate.
Phelan attended the post-match press conference in place of Sir Alex Ferguson and explained the United boss was not in 'any fit state' to speak to Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir about the sending off.
"It's a distraught dressing room and a distraught manager," said Phelan. "That's why I'm sat here now.
"We thought we had the tactics right for the game for such a big occasion. We felt comfortable at times and 0-0 was where we wanted to be.
"We came out, scored a goal and that put us in a commanding position. Then the game totally changed.
"The decision was amazing, but we had to carry on. Playing Real Madrid with 11 men is very difficult and, in a game of this magnitude with all the world watching, we feel very, very disappointed that we ended the game with 10 men.
"I don't think the manager is any fit state to talk to the referee about the decision.
"I think it speaks volumes that I'm sat here speaking to you at this moment in time and not the manager of this fantastic football club.
"We all saw and witnessed a decision that seemed very harsh, possibly incredible, at that moment in the game."
what do you think?
geoffthetaxi .
at last a referee who applies the rules of the game at old trafford. and not the rules of fergie
number1949
Typical Man Utd ..whinge, whinge, whinge....its usually their opponents who get that sort of treatment at Old Trafford....deal with it !
Rob Shaw
Gret refereeing! Fergie's pressure comment he made the day before have massively backfired. Real Madrid were simply better.
Joan Massey
Proved he was rt & long will he reign!!!!!!
Philip Handley
It's about time that idiot ferguson realised that at last in 25 years he has had to accept that at last a referee has had the courage NOT to be intimidated by ferguson and applied the rules of the game. The kick by nanny was dangerous if it had been commited against on of fergy players he would have been demanding a red card. Get over the loss al those man u idiots and get on with the game. You lost to a better side managed by a far better manager. Ferguson sgould realise that at last he does not own ALL REFEREES like he thinks he does.
Martin Massey
Shouldn't that be LIKE YOU THINK HE DOES!!! he's an idiot what does that make you a nobody!!!!!
Andy Smithies
I would like to applaud the ref in last nights game at The Swamp for his honesty and bravery!! The best team won and it was scripted for Winky Ronaldo to score the winner!! LOL
Paul Gilbert
You disagree with Mourinho then
Diane Rogers
Mourinio only said that not to upset United fans because he wants job when fergie finally retires.
Paul Gilbert
Anti United crew out in force - all watching a different game - all talking nonsense as usual - hope it happens to your team. Would like to see all the decisions that are supposed to be in United's favour. What a joke!!
Rob Shaw
We saw a game in which Real Madrid scored more goals than you, therefore the better team. It does happen to our teams, it just never normally happens to United because Fergie puts pressure on them. For once it hasn't gone your way, get over it
andy may
not anti united. i'm just tired of fergies bullying and then crying when he doesn't get his own way. i wanted united to win but they didn't, end of.
ali baba
aston villa vs man utd final wembley vidic clearly fouls agbonlahor, penalty given but your player was not sent off thats one example from a villa fan. and i bet you that each team in the premier league could also give you an example
Martin Massey
This comment has been removed for violations of our Terms and Conditions.
Diane Rogers
Paul, What if it had been a Madrid player on a United player. So what if United had a man sent off they have enough experienced players to compensate. Madrid even had to score for them
Jaryd Govindan
bottom line the ref ruined a fantastic game and englands best chance of winning the champions league has gone thanks to him. arsenal are almost certainly out, chelsea was gone very early so all anti united fans are happy that on the bigger picture they would rather see united lose than have a british representative at wembley
Rob Shaw
I'd like to see the top two teams in europe at the champions league final and United are not one of them
Jaryd Govindan
ok jowett who are the top two teams in europe currently. because lets see united are 12 points clear and madrid are 9 points behind. ac milan are behind. it would be between barca, man united, juventus and munich. top four teams in my opinion. so top two teams to be in final is juventus and munich. really
Diane Rogers
Jaryd goes on last season
Rob Shaw
Jaryd, I think your biased is showing a little. Barca, AC Milan, Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Brussia Dortmund are all better than Man U. United aren't all that anymore, they may be dominating the Prem, but that says more about the standard of the english football atm than anything
Jaryd Govindan
i beg to disagree up until we were down to 10 men, madrid were hardly a threat against in all honesty against rio ferdinand and vidic who have been used sparingly this season. so i dont see why u say united are not that great when we have spurs doing fantastically well in europa this season against good former champions league opposition. all non united fans are expected to ne happy that we're knocked out because of the simple fact your team wasnt good enough to compete in the champions league. And to say that the standard of english football has decreased is quite ironic seeing that in spain only madrid and barca are expected to win everything where as in england swansea just lifted the league cup and im pretty sure allof englands top clubs competed in the league cup. jelous fans will remain jelous
Rob Shaw
I'm not saying united arent great, im saying they arent as great as most of other teams in europe. I don't blame you, all united fans are deluded.
Paul Gilbert
Top 3 teams in Europe are Barca United and Bayern. Real probably 4th and City 5th. Any team could beat any other team on the odd occasion, playing with 10 men very difficult to beat top teams. Italian football is pretty poor compared to England Spain and Germany. Tottenham 3 Inter 0 for example. Even if Milan beat Barca doesn't mean they are better than them. Take your blindfolds off , like the comment from A Jowett - not United aren't great but they aren't as great as MOST of the other teams in Europe??? Does that include a 5th division pub team in Moldova?what a load of*******
Paul Gilbert
Mourinho says best team lost Real Madrid boss Joe Mourinho said his team were extremely lucky to beat Manchester United in a hugely-controversial Champions League clash at Old Trafford.
Gary Fitton
And he meant it, no way Jose!
Paul Martin
He was just being polite. Grinning inside, and knowing he didn't want to upset the Man U board, as he will have fergies job pretty soon.
Paul Gilbert
He will never be Utd manager and he knows it - that is not my comment - truth is a stranger to the anti united brigade
richard
I have been watching my team for 60 years in April - Southampton - through thick & thin & I am no Man U fan - (we were relegated by them!) but last nights decision was a disgrace. Watch Nani - he had no idea that the Real player was behind him when he tried to 'high kick' the ball. I doubt that it was even a yellow card. When the ref sees the replay - he will be embarrassed plus I expect that UEUFA will quietly stop using him for such high profile games. Obviously the 'morons' who know nothing about football - except to hate Man U - will spit their usual diatribe but this time I am sorry for Fergie & his team - they were cheated out of this result. Even Jose knows that. I am sure that RM will win Champions League this year.
andy may
it's football richard. i'm not anti man u. i feel fergie has benefitted much more from dubious decisions and poor time keeping than anybody else, so it is a little rich him throwing his usual wobbler when things don't go his way. it's the nature of the game and he's bullied enough officials in the past, about time he acted like an adult.
Jennie Morris
Richard what a pleasure to see another Saints fan on the comments board I too am a long time Saints fan of 44 years who is having an anxious wait to see if we stay up! As for last night I think it was a bad decision aswell.
Paul Gilbert
I still want to know what are all these dubious decisions that United are supposedly given and the timing. One was Tottenham scoring a goal that the linesman thought had not crossed the line many years ago and Hernadez was offside against Chelsea earler this season. Could name hundreds that have gone against us. That is two against Mourinho's teams in the Champions League alone- Scholes goal gainst Porto disallowed.
Paul Martin
It doesn't matter if he knew that the Real player was around him or not. Like Roy Kean said, " he was on a football pitch, with 21 other players, there will always be someone else around". The ref was correct to send him off, as the rules will back him up. You go for a ball with your feet that high, then you take a risk. You can take someones eye out, or worse. Nice one ref. And nice to see Roy Keen giving it as he saw it, and not selling himself to keep his old fans happy.
Paul Gilbert
which rule says you get sent off for a raised foot with no intent to injure the other player - used to be an indirect free kick until a Man Utd player does it, happens all the time.
Jon Pringle
Probably to keep a few doors open in england paul. When the time comes he'll be looking for a new job wont he, and the ol' whino looks ro have lost the plot...again...
Paul Gilbert
he will not be manager of Man Utd and he knows it, maybe he was telling the truth which so many blinkered anti United hate filled people wouldn't know if the truth hit them in the face.
Sean Lee
I admit I don't like Man Utd or Ferguson and yes on the night the best team lost the game did turn on the refs decision which was the RIGHT decision. Ask Charlie ADAMS if he should have been sent off at Spurs last season his foot was nowhere near as high as Nani's. So the ref according to the rules got it right. So lets all move on.
Nigel L
Roy Keane agreed it was a sending off and im not arguing with him.
Martin Massey
Keane is bitter at fergie dumping him, He dumped his country at a world cup, great player very poor person also failed manager.
Ged Sanderson
I saw an incident at the weekend (I think it may have been Croch) attemted overhead kick, missed the ball and kicked a defender in the head instead. No RED card issued there and that was clearly more dangerous than a player running into a raised foot which was at full stretch with no force behind it. I see this yet anotther decision which supports the need for video referees to assist the on pitch officials and reduce the instances of some players who often try to get another player carded. Refs would never be vilified by players or managers again.
ali baba
When you do overhead kick, studs are technically not showing
Paul Martin
Don't think because the guy got away with the overhead kick, that Nani should get away with it. The ref did his job last night, i didn't see the other one, but it sounds like the ref failed to act. Or was it that bad.
Brian Quinn
How many of the players come from Manchester? Farcical situation. It's the equivalent of hiring foreign mercenaries and calling them British troops.
Paul Gilbert
What are you on about? It was not England playing last night - if there is one team in the Premier League that have a lot of local players it is United:. This is not the 19th century. All the teams throughout the world have players from all over. Is Ronaldo from Madrid, Benzema, Modric etc etc etc?????????????
Mushtacq Hussain
Forget n move on! Liverpool should have had 2 penalties against zenith! Did Brendan Rogers moan? no!!! Had the penalties been given, could have been playing tonite! love, move on u man u fans!!! the ref saw the incident in speed of light, u saw it in slow motion. relax n move on! Many decisions may be wrong, at the end of the day the day, ref is the Gaffer! Lolxxx
Paul Gilbert
how could they be playing tonight - you aren't and weren't even in the CL ?????????????????
Jaryd Govindan
haha good one paul. liverpool supporters should concentrate on saving their own behinds cos brendan could be going end of season and maybe suarez as well. sorry but liverpool not really attracting big names. even joe cole said he made a mistake coming to liverpool, torres left to BETTER his career which technically he did although he's not scoring but he's winning trophies something liverpool only dream about but we have to respect lfc for TRYING to win the league since 1989 hahaha
Jaryd Govindan
well done to madrid as they still needed to get the 2 goals but poor referring from that idiot of a referee to spoil a great game
Paul Martin
The best thing that happened last night , was the referee not being pressured by the Old Trafford mob . Well done ref. It's a sending off offence, and the rule book backs it up. More of the same from the referee mould.
Paul Gilbert
Have watched it over and over again and no way in a million years was that a sending off offence - don't know which rule book you're looking at - it happens a dozen times a week and no-one gets sent off.
ali baba
Footballers have great spacial awareness, Nani knew their was another player around challenging for the ball Blatant red card. End of.
Diane Rogers
Ali for once I agree with you. !!!!
Paul Martin
Like Roy said. He was on a football pitch with 21 other players. There will always be someone else around. Nice one Jose, as well. For ignoring the insults and threats from the front row of supporters , after the game, walking to the tunnel. What a bunch of cavemen. Slagging off a manager for beating them fair and square. He wasn't intimidated , either. Lol lol
Jaryd Govindan
if refs applied the rules of the game word for word then you would almost certainly see red cards in every game. the game is over united are out thats it. we will be there next season altho cant say the same for liverpool and arsenal. glory glory man united. fa cup next. come on united
Paul Gilbert
Interesting additional point - the referee Cakir has now sent off seven players from English teams, but never one against them. Conspiracy theories abound
steven
All of this bleating about a game makes me chuckle, football is taken far to seriously.
Andy Smithies
8:37am on 6/3/2013
If this was a player who committed this atrocious taqckle, neigh Kung Fu kick against his team he would be baying the Ref for a red card!!! United lost, get over it, best team won over 2 legs! Utd dont have the god given right to win every match and own EVERY Ref!!
Joan Massey
4:43pm on 6/3/2013
You must follow united as you know so much about them!! no just jumping in while you can!!!!