Sir Alex Ferguson shrugged off Wayne Rooney's bad-tempered reaction to being substituted in Istanbul last night.

The Manchester United striker was replaced following an hour of his side's 1-0 victory in Turkey over Besiktas after running himself into the ground as a lone front-man.

Given the work he had to do for England in two internationals, and a gruelling examination at Tottenham, when he was part of a side that completed the game with only 10 men, Rooney might have been glad of the break, particularly as Manchester City go to Old Trafford on Sunday.

Instead, Rooney was severely put-out, trudging all the way to the touchline before shaking his head and throwing his boots to the ground in disgust.

Ferguson said: “It was always part of our thoughts to bring Wayne off. He had been playing as the lone striker for an hour, which is why he was always going to come off. He is never pleased to come off. He has so much energy he wants to play all the time.”

Although the win itself was fairly routine, with Paul Scholes pouncing 13 minutes from time, there were a couple of unsavoury incidents for Ferguson to reflect on.

Police were forced to intervene to get a group of Besiktas fans away from the visitors' dug-out, while Ferguson confirmed Jonny Evans had been targeted by a supporter carrying a laser.

“It was in the first-half, although thankfully the police did something about it,” said the United boss.

Ferguson was also alerted to a security problem behind his dug-out, although he was eager not to make an issue of that.

“Someone mentioned it to me, but I never saw anything,” he added.