Evra claims racial slur sparked fight

PATRICE EVRA is claiming that an alleged racist remark from a member of Chelsea’s ground-staff sparked the on-field brawl after Manchester United’s tempestuous defeat at Chelsea on Saturday.

United are facing a possible charge from the Football Association for failing to control their players after the melee which occurred shortly after the final whistle at Stamford Bridge. The FA have asked Chelsea to send them video footage and the club face a fine — likely to be in the region of £30,000 — if found guilty. The incident has not been included in the match report of referee Alan Wiley, so the FA’s disciplinary committee will make their own ruling after studying CCTV pictures.

Tempers flared after a group of United players — Evra, Paul Scholes, John O'Shea, Gerard Pique, Ji-Sung Park and Gary Neville — were ordered to stop using one of the goalmouths for their post-match exercises by groundsmen. The players, led by Neville, refused, prompting an angry confrontation which forced stewards — who had been receiving their post-match debrief in the stands — to intervene.

That appeared to defuse the incident until Evra raced back to continue the disagreement. The Frenchman has told team-mates that he did so after being racially abused by one of the groundsmen. The defender duly engaged in a bout of fisticuffs which left him nursing a small cut over his eye before he was dragged away. Chelsea are believed to be ready to contest Evra’s version of events and have not ruled out lodging their own complaint with the FA regarding United’s behaviour.

Alex Ferguson, the United manager, will conduct his own inquiry into events in west London and the Scot will be seeking an explanation from Rio Ferdinand after the defender was forced to publicly apologise for kicking a female steward in the shin.

The 29-year-old had apparently been taking aim at a wall only to catch the steward, leaving stud marks on her leg. Ferdinand issued a swift apology for his behaviour and promised to send her a bouquet of flowers, although he was still annoyed enough to vent his frustrations on a door in the Chelsea tunnel moments after the incident with the steward.

“I kicked the wall in frustration at the result, as I have done in the past,” he said. “Unfortunately a lady was stood by and I accidentally brushed her with my foot. I went back to make sure she was okay and apologised profusely. She laughed it off and was very understanding.”

Ferguson, meanwhile, attempted to deflect attention from the rumpus by launching a furious tirade at Wiley for awarding Chelsea’s decisive late penalty for a handball by Michael Carrick. The Scot called that decision “diabolical” and reiterated his belief that United have been the victims of a refereeing conspiracy.

“In the last few weeks we've been knocked out of the FA Cup after not getting a penalty kick,” he said. “There should have been a clear penalty at Middlesbrough. And the same linesman we had today disallowed Wayne Rooney when he was yards onside. Then at Blackburn, Rob Styles doesn't give us one out of three.”

Carlos Queiroz, Ferguson’s assistant, went further. “A player must shoot one of our men in the box for us to get a penalty,” he claimed.