Ferguson target for Mourinho riposte

PORTO coach Jose Mourinho has launched another furious attack on Alex Ferguson as the simmering tension between the pair boiled over, ahead of tonight’s Champions League showdown at Old Trafford.

Ferguson angrily berated his opposite number on the touchline following the Portuguese side’s 2-1 victory a fortnight ago and the Scot went on to allege that the “diving” home players were cheats and veteran keeper Vitor Baia had played a major role in getting skipper Roy Keane sent off.

On hearing the Manchester United boss had not only refused to back down from those comments but also claimed Porto were trying to influence Russian referee Valentin Ivanov ahead of tonight’s game, Mourinho went on the offensive and questioned the fear he believes is seeping out of the home camp.

“I hear everything that Ferguson says and I wonder what he is so worried about and why he is so afraid,” said Mourinho.

“Maybe for them it’s a problem with the result. I’m sure if they win 5-0 we won’t hear any of these stupid things about diving, cheating or referees.

“I do not agree with the things he is saying about my players and the Roy Keane situation is not our problem anymore, other than I had someone banned for three games, not one, for doing something which wasn’t as bad as that.

“Maybe it is mind games on Ferguson’s part. All I would say is I have a strategy too.

The United boss had already reached the brink of explosion when asked whether Ruud van Nistelrooy and Cristiano Ronaldo were guilty of similar offences to the ones he has accused the Porto players of.

“He has been educated properly in Manchester,” he railed in relation to Ronaldo, while at one stage he demanded to know whether a member of the Porto media corps had witnessed the infamous Arsenal game at Old Trafford earlier in the season when Van Nisterlrooy was accused of diving.

With Gary Neville back from suspension, Mikael Silvestre ready to return from the knee injury that kept him out of the first game and Louis Saha free to make his Old Trafford European bow, the United side is strengthened from the one that beat Fulham at the weekend even though Keane is missing.