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Uefa defends draw after Ferguson's criticism

Gordon Tynan
Monday 07 April 2003 00:00 BST
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In the run-up to the Champions' League quarter-finals, the Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has all but accused Europe's governing body of fixing the draw, but Uefa has responded, saying the remarks "do not fit reality".

"It was a nice draw for the Spanish and Italians – I think they picked it themselves," Sir Alex said. "The three Italian teams have avoided each other and so have the three Spanish. How do you think that worked out? Uefa don't want us in the final, that's for sure. I don't know why they have given the final to Old Trafford because they don't want us to get there."

United play Real Madrid tomorrow and the three other quarter-final draws paired Milan with Ajax, Internazionale with Valencia and Juventus with Barcelona. Uefa's Mike Lee said: "It's not true. It sounds a bit like some of Fergie's mind games that he sometimes plays ahead of major matches."

Lee said Ferguson's claim was one in a line of accusations that are always levelled at the governing body by teams disappointed with their draws. "The fact is that in Italy Uefa are accused of being favoured and biased towards Germany and in Spain we are accused of being biased towards Italy," he said. "It is is just par for the course. It is a fair and open draw which has produced a fantastic ties. I'm afraid that his comments don't fit with reality. It is a shame when we have so much to look forward to that we have these sorts of accusations."

Sir Alex also said Fifa, the world governing body, was being soft on Real Madrid's full-back Roberto Carlos after he was sent off for barging the referee Alon Yefet in a friendly between Brazil and Portugal last week.

"It shows everyone the power Real Madrid have," Ferguson said. "Fifa won't make a decision because they are waiting to see what Real say first. That shows the influence they have. I expect him to play against us. If he played for any other club he would be banned."

Three Portugal players were banned from international football after handling the referee at the end of the Euro 2000 semi-final against France.

The Football Association said they may take months to decide whether to accept a ticket allocation for England's European Championship qualifier in Turkey in October. The FA say discussions designed to combat the threat of violence in the return match may run until mid-summer.

The FA's acting chief executive David Davies said: "Over the next few weeks we have got to talk to a lot of people, including governments and security advisers, and look at what we can do jointly with the Turks to improve the atmosphere of that match in October."

Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, said he may consider standing for a third term. Blatter, who will be 70 when his current presidency ends in 2006, was re-elected last year for his second term in office following a controversial election battle that resulted in several legal actions being taken.

He has previously said his presidency would not be longer than two mandates but said yesterday that a third term might be possible. "It will depend on a revision of Fifa's rules that are currently being carried out whether a third period in office would be generally possible," he said.

He added that Fifa's financial position is better than expected. "The results are looking good, a lot better than the SFr500m debt that was forecast."

Manchester United and Arsenal players past and present dominate the list of players selected for the Premier League and Overseas Teams of the Decade. Via the FA Premier League's website, almost 750,000 votes were cast with fans from 184 countries.

Supporters picked teams from a shortlist formed by a panel of 10 experts, including FA Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore, BBC TV commentator Barry Davies and Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association.

PREMIERSHIP DOMESTIC TEAM OF THE DECADE: Seaman; G Neville, Adams, Bruce, Pearce; Beckham, Scholes, Ince, Giggs; Shearer, Owen.

OVERSEAS: Schmeichel; Petrescu, Desailly, Stam, Irwin; Ljungberg, Keane, Vieira, Pires; Cantona, Henry.

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