United boss Ferguson hits back at FIFA chief over Ronaldo 'slavery' claims

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Sir Alex Ferguson has branded Sepp Blatter's reference to slavery during his intervention in the Cristiano Ronaldo affair 'unfortunate'.

The FIFA president caused outrage with his comments, likening Ronaldo - who only signed a five-year contract with 12 months ago - to a serf in feudal times.

Pictures of the Portugal winger sunning himself in Los Angeles this week certainly did not fit that description, although Ronaldo did agree when quizzed about Blatter's comments.

However, Ferguson takes a different view. And, as he seems increasingly likely to stave off Real Madrid's continued attempts to sign the 23-year-old, he chose to admonish Blatter ahead of his side's 2-1 win over Portsmouth in Nigeria.

"It was an unfortunate statement from someone in such a position as Sepp Blatter," Ferguson told a pre-match press conference. "Slavery was abolished many years ago.

"These days footballers can earn five or six million pounds a year. I do not want to dignify this kind of statement with a response but when you consider the history of slavery, it was a very unfortunate statement."

Ronaldo is not due back in action until October following a recent ankle operation but could return to United's training HQ at Carrington at the end of next month to step up his recovery programme.