Broken Man Ferguson Furious Over 'horrific Tackle'

Sir Alex Ferguson angrily condemned the Middlesbrough captain Emanuel Pogatetz after his "horrendous" and "terrible" challenge left Manchester United's teenage Brazilian midfielder, Rodrigo Possebon, with a suspected broken leg. Pogatetz was sent off for the high, studs-up lunge 65 minutes into a 3-1 Carling Cup victory for United last night. The incident overshadowed Cristiano Ronaldo's first goal of the season and a grim-faced Ferguson described it as one of the worst offenses he had ever seen on a pitch.

"It looks a really bad one," the United manager reported. "We just hope it's not the worst possible news but he has gone to hospital and it doesn't look good. For the kid to be making his first start for us, and then to get an injury like that, is pretty horrendous. It really was a terrible tackle. I've seen one replay of it and I don't want to see it again."

Ferguson was so incensed that the fourth official, Jon Moss, had to stop him confronting Gareth Southgate's assistant, Colin Cooper. "The thing about challenges like that is the offender always seems to claim he is innocent," Ferguson continued. "Pogatetz should have walked straight off. Then one of their bench jumped up, screaming that it was never a sending off and that there was nothing wrong with the boy. At least [Boro's manager] Gareth Southgate apologized at the final whistle. He was very good, he realized the gravity of it and he was very, very apologetic. But, oh, what a dreadful tackle. When you see it, dearie me, it's horrendous. For 10 minutes afterwards, I think everyone was numb about it."

Southgate also made a public apology. "I have no complaints about the sending off," he said. "We just hope that if it is a serious injury he gets a full recovery. A couple of the lads on our bench didn't have the same view as me, but I could see straight away that it was a poor one. In the context of the evening, it turned the game in their favor. But our first thoughts are for the lad."