Manchester United FC

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• Manager:Sir Alex Ferguson

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Fergie brushes off Roo anger

16 Sep 2009 - 07:25:57

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Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has played down Wayne Rooney's angry reaction to being substituted during their 1-0 Champions League win over Besiktas.

United started their European campaign with a narrow victory in Turkey courtesy of a second-half Paul Scholes header.

But the win has been overshadowed by Rooney, who became involved in a heated exchange with the Besiktas fans and threw his boot to the ground after being replaced by Michael Owen on the hour mark.

"He had been playing as the lone striker for an hour, which is why he was always going to come off," explained Ferguson, whose side face Manchester City in a derby encounter on Sunday.

"He is never pleased to come off. He has so much energy he wants to play all the time."

Meanwhile, Ferguson revealed that the police had intervened after several of his players were dazzled by a green laser aimed from a section of Besiktas fans during the match.

"It was in the first half, although thankfully the police did something about it," he added.

"They managed to get the culprit, which is good because I noticed it particularly on Jonny Evans. It seemed to be on him all the time."