Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was careful not to question the ref after hitting out at the penalty awarded to Wayne Rooney in yesterday's defeat at Manchester United.

"We were the better team but we lost the game," groaned Wenger. "It is very difficult to swallow."

In an effort to follow the FA's instruction not to attack referees, Wenger attempted to bite his tongue.

"It was an Old Trafford dish," was his reaction to Rooney's penalty, adding that he felt the Arshavin incident was a penalty, while admitting he was not the most objective observer.

The Rooney incident did raise inevitable questions about the incident involving Eduardo against Celtic in midweek that seems certain to land the Croat with a two-game ban for "deceiving the referee".

"I hope UEFA were watching last night (Super Cup tie between Barcelona and Shakhtar Donetsk) because they will be charging Lionel Messi for headbutting," he observed.

"I can guarantee over the weekend I will be able to find 50 similar situations where UEFA must take action or they will have singled out Eduardo as a victim.

"There is no logic to what they have done. We have clear evidence he was touched."

The same was undoubtedly true of Rooney, Howard Dean's decision ultimately proving pivotal as United fought their way to a famous win.

"Coming back from 1-0 down against Arsenal was a hard task," said Ferguson.

"But we got a bit of a break with the own goal and I am delighted with the win."