"They overdo the acting to get free-kicks and that makes them quite difficult to play against," said the United boss. I didn't really see the Rio incident but I have never seen the fourth official intervene like that before, certainly not from 50 yards away. You need a strong referee when teams are looking to make the most of contact but the rest is about discipline and making sure you don't lose your cool."
Ferdinand, who insisted he had done nothing wrong:
"He was definitely acting, he backed into me before the free-kick, so I brushed him off. There was no need for him to go down."
Unsurprisingly, Leverkusen coach Klaus Toppmoller saw it differently: "I can't subscribe to that view at all, I didn't see it myself but Thomas told me he got knocked by Ferdinand and that is why he went down."