SIR ALEX FERGUSON believes Fernando Torres only has himself to blame for his sending off in Manchester United’s 3-2 win at Chelsea on Sunday.
United made all the early running at Stamford Bridge, shooting out to a 2-0 lead through a David Luiz own goal and a Robin van Persie strike, but Juan Mata made it 2-1 just before half-time and Ramires’ goal eight minutes into the second half tied things up.
The match turned wildly just after the hour mark when Branislav Ivanovic was given a straight red card, and five minutes later Torres picked up a second booking from referee Mark Clattenburg after going down from a Jonny Evans challenge.
The official decided the Chelsea striker had dived, even though there was clear contact from Evans.
The United boss said afterwards, however, that he had no sympathy for Torres, who he believes could have stayed on his feet.
“Did he intend to dive? He didn’t choose to go on (running),” Ferguson told Sky Sports.
“I think Jonny may have just caught him a little bit, but you can either carry on running, which he could have done, but he chose to go down.
“He could have carried on and scored – that’s what I don’t understand. I would never have missed that chance to go through. I would have taken it anytime.
“I would never have gone down, but he did go down and that’s the issue, and he’s already been booked, so it’s his own fault.”
Ferguson admitted Javier Hernandez’s winner was a stroke of luck for the visitors after replays showed the Mexico international was offside when he poked in United’s third goal.
“That’s a bit of luck we got,” he said. “We started the game so well and then just 10 minutes or so from half-time we lost our way a bit.
“I couldn’t wait for half-time, to be honest with you. When they got their second goal after half-time, in that moment we had to start performing properly, and I think we did better then.”
