Bernabeu Stadium, 7.45 Television: TV3, UTVSOCCER: One of the front pages here yesterday read "Hooligan Ferguson" and, if Alex Ferguson was genuinely taken aback by the hostile headlines when he arrived in Spain, the Manchester United manager's lack of diplomacy succeeded in ensuring tonight's encounter with Real Madrid will be littered with grudges. He can only hope his players show the same sort of aggression in this clash of football superpowers.
As Arsene Wenger can testify, there is nothing new in Ferguson deliberately winding up opposition managers, but there was still something remarkable about the manner in which, not even an hour after landing on Spanish soil, he had managed to inflame tensions between the two clubs.
Among his most provocative claims was that Real would try to "get the referee" and that the Spaniards had concocted the stories linking David Beckham with a transfer to the Bernabeu in a deliberate attempt to unsettle the player ahead of this intriguing tie. Last night his comments were interpreted by Jorge Valdano, Real's sporting director, as a "sign they are getting worried".
Ferguson had already irritated his hosts with his claims that UEFA had rigged the draw "because they don't want us in the final" and that Roberto Carlos should be banned after shoulder-charging the referee during Brazil's international in Portugal nine days ago. This drew a rebuke from Real's coach Vicente del Bosque, saying he hoped that Ferguson had been misquoted.
When handed this information, Ferguson then proceeded to inflame the situation again. "They (Real) are not without fault themselves," he said. "We've had their players making personal attacks on ours. It happened the last time we were here and it's happened again. And I have to question their motives with the Beckham thing, the way it came out immediately after the draw was made. I think it's fair to say there was a bit of mischief on their side.
"We've experienced this before from them. Three years ago, the last time we faced them, they were supposedly targeting Beckham. And then it was Ryan Giggs and so on and so on. I suppose this is all part of playing Real Madrid, whether you like it or not. But they're not short of trying anything.
"A lot of their players try to 'get' the referee, you understand? You see it all the time in Spain and Italy and you don't need me to tell you that it's worse here than anywhere."
Ferguson was unrepentant on his claims about Roberto Carlos, who was suspended from international matches yesterday while FIFA arrange a date for a disciplinary hearing. "I was pointing out how powerful Real Madrid obviously are in the world of football," he said, and only once, when his accusations of a UEFA fix were brought up, did he backtrack. "UEFA assure me the draw was fair and I have to take their word for it. So I was wrong to say that."
Apologies from Ferguson are rare but it will not have succeeded in smoothing over a delicate situation and, no matter how exquisite the football on offer, it was difficult not to feel the allegations have demeaned a match of such prestige.
The truth is that Ferguson, who has a full squad with the exception of Juan Sebastian Veron, is one of Real's greatest admirers. "They've been the barometer of European football for 40-odd years now. All the great teams have won the competition more than once but when you look at Real they have done it nine times and their name is splattered all over that trophy. That's no accident, and we need to get ours on it a few times more."
