Ferdinand escapes punishment from UEFA

Rio Ferdinand will not face disciplinary action from UEFA for sarcastically applauding Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir at the end of Manchester United’s Champions League tie at Old Trafford on Tuesday night.

Ferdinand, aged 34, was disappointed with Cakir’s decision to send Nani off. United were 1-0 up at the time but Madrid scored two goals shortly after thanks to Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo.

After receiving the referee’s report however, UEFA confirmed they will take no action against Ferdinand.

A UEFA spokesman said: “From the report we have received from the referee we will not take any action apart from the disciplinary proceedings against Manchester United for the red card of Nani and for post-match media obligations not being fulfilled.”

While there were some suggestions Ferdinand would face punishment, it had to be remembered Wayne Rooney was sent off by Kim Milyon Nieson in 2005 when he did exactly the same during United’s encounter with Spanish side Villarreal.

Mike Phelan addressed the press instead of Ferguson, who was too “distraught” to answer questions on the game at the time. The players refused to stop to talk in the mixed zone also.

UEFA’s rules on post-match media obligations state: “Both clubs must make their manager/head coach available for this press conference. All players of both teams are obliged to pass through the mixed zone in order to conduct interviews with the media. Players must fulfil interview requests from audiovisual rights holders before conducting interviews for their club media platforms.”

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