Manchester United Football Club Blog: Arsène Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson head for Uefa showdown

Thursday, 3 September 2009

Arsène Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson head for Uefa showdown

• Managers in Nyon for elite club coaches' forum
• Duo nursing grievances from Old Trafford fixture

Arsène Wenger will discover tomorrow how his complaint about Manchester United using "anti-football" tactics has gone down with Sir Alex Ferguson when the two managers come face to face while still nursing grievances from last weekend's controversial fixture at Old Trafford.

According to The Guardian, Wenger and Ferguson will be in Nyon for the next two days as part of Uefa's elite club coaches' forum, when it could conceivably be stiff handshakes all around between the representatives of the English clubs. Rafael Benítez, of Liverpool, has confirmed he will travel to Switzerland at a time when his relationship with Ferguson appears to be irreparably damaged.

Ferguson is angry and disappointed about the way Wenger has attacked United since Arsenal's 2-1 defeat in Manchester last Saturday. Wenger's comments about United's perceived foul play surprised the management at Old Trafford where there is a sense that he has broken a gentleman's agreement between him and Ferguson to refrain from criticising each other's clubs.

Relations between the two old rivals have significantly improved over the last two seasons and Ferguson felt they parted at Old Trafford on good terms, having a cordial conversation and shaking hands before Wenger boarded the Arsenal team coach.

Sir Alex was particularly aggrieved about the implied criticisms of Fletcher. Wenger complained that one United player had made 20 fouls without being booked whereas the official statistics say that Fletcher gave away six free-kicks, the same number as the Arsenal's Robin van Persie.

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