Manchester United’s Darren Fletcher Is ‘Terribly Unlucky’ - Sir Alex Ferguson

Fletch's sending off was a harsh decision, according to the United boss.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson insisted midfielder Darren Fletcher was “terribly unlucky” after the Scot picked up a red card that will rule him out of the Champions League final.

The Red Devils cruised into the final with a 4-1 aggregate victory over Arsenal yet their evening was marred by a straight red card shown to the midfielder for a foul on Cesc Fabregas

Speaking to ITV Sport after the game the United boss rued the decision and admitted there was nothing the club could do about it.

“You can see the ball has moved a different direction, an angle away from Cesc Fabregas and I think he’s terribly unlucky, but unfortunately we can’t appeal it,” he explained.

“I think the referee is probably the best in Europe, he may look at it and have a view on it but there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Fletcher will now be forced to watch the final from the sidelines and Ferguson revealed he would have expected him to play some part in the game.

“You see his performance tonight, and all the big games over the last few years, Darren’s always been a key player for us,” he said.

“I can’t tell you what my team would be for the final, depends who the opponents were of course, but you would think that Darren would figure largely in it.”

Despite the sending off, United enjoyed a superb win and were helped by a great start which saw Ji Sung Park score after only nine minutes, which Ferguson admitted was a great help.

“I think obviously we got the break, we got the first goal with the defender slipping and Ji Sung Park takes advantage of that,” said the United boss.

“The performance in terms of confidence and wanting to play and play our football was really terrific.”

The reigning champions will now meet either Chelsea or Barcelona in Rome and Sir Alex tipped the Premier League side to make it through.

“Obviously Barcelona are fantastic. I watched them on Saturday night and I was drooling watching them,” he added.

“At Chelsea though, they [Barcelona] have a centre back problem and it may cost them and I think maybe Chelsea will go through.”

Gill Clark, Goal.com