08 Apr 2010 – 07:55:26

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson cut a bitter figure after seeing his side crash out of the Champions League at the hands of Bayern Munich.

The Red Devils trailed 2-1 in the quarter-final tie going into the second leg at Old Trafford, but after roaring into a 3-0 lead looked certain to reach the last four.

However, the sending-off of Rafael soon after half-time changed the complexion of the game and Bayern eventually fought back to 3-2 and progressed on away goals.

Ferguson was unhappy that the German players had encouraged the match official to show his young defender a second yellow card and also described Bayern as ‘lucky’ to go through.

He commented: “There was no threat and the referee wasn’t going to do anything about it until they surrounded him. It is typical of Germans, they are like that.

“It is hard to digest something like that, it was a top performance.

“In one way you could say we have thrown it away, in another you could argue we were very unlucky.

“We didn’t play particularly well at Bayern last week, but we created four good chances and they scored with a deflected free-kick and again in injury time. You have to say that was a bit lucky.

“Luck’s part of the game and you have to accept it – there have been many occasions when we’ve had it, but they had it in this tie. Tonight we were the better team, no question and were fantastic before the sending-off.

“English teams are expected to get to the semi-finals as we have been doing recently, but I still think it’s the best league in Europe.”