Manchester United FC

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• Manager:Sir Alex Ferguson

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Van Gaal hits back at Ferguson

08 Apr 2010 - 08:12:10

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Bayern Munich head coach Louis van Gaal hit back at criticism of his side from Sir Alex Ferguson after the German champions dumped Manchester United out of the Champions League.

Van Gaal's men fought back from 3-0 down at Old Trafford to reach the semi-finals, eventually losing 3-2 on the night to progress on away goals with the aggregate score locked at 4-4.

Afterwards Ferguson blasted Bayern's players for helping to get defender Rafael sent off, while also describing van Gaal's side as lucky and insisting that United would have won through with 11 men.

The Dutchman commented: "I thought England was noted for fairness. I have been confronted with three comments. It is not what I call fair play.

"I do not share Sir Alex's opinion. Control is part of being a professional footballer, every player must know his job.

"If you pick up one yellow card, a second means a sending-off. Every player should know that and it was a yellow card offence. It was the player who made the foul.

"As for United winning with 11 we will never know that, neither Sir Alex nor me, because this game will not be played again. It is easy to say these things after a loss.

"The first half wasn't very good and we had to improve. It's incredible what we did in the second half - we played fantastically. It's not always easy to play against ten men. We played like a great team."