Rafa Benitez has accused rival Sir Alex Ferguson of attempting to influence the match officials before the crucial game on Sunday, at Old Trafford.

Ferguson, who hasn’t stopped complaining about refereeing decisions since United were knocked out of the FA cup by Portsmouth, has now picked up on his other pet talking point, protection for his boy Ronaldo.

In his programme notes for Wednesday’s game with Bolton, Ferguson wrote;

“When Ronaldo is running at full speed sometimes it doesn’t take much to knock him over, but the truth is that too many opponents don’t know how to tackle properly. And to disguise their shortcomings they accuse him of falling deliberately.”

It is an opinion that Benitez shares, of course, and hopes that the same protection will be afforded to Liverpool’s Torres in much the same way. But he has been around the premier league long enough to know what the United manger is up to.

“Ferguson is clever, that is clear,” said Benitez. “After a difficult game [Portsmouth] he was talking about referees and before an important game [Liverpool] he is talking about protecting Ronaldo. The referees, though, have experience and they will know Ferguson. Sunday’s referee has experience and he is strong enough.

“Ferguson has a lot of experience. If you need to protect Ronaldo, then you also need to protect Torres and Gerrard and all the skilful players in the league. This kind of treatment must be the same for all the teams and all the players. I wasn’t surprised last week to hear what he was saying. I just want to go into the game with the same situation as the other team.”

History tells us that ‘baiting’ Benitez often has a a way of coming straight back in your face, as Jose Mourinho found out often enough, in his ’mind games’ with Rafa.