Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson says the English press were celebrating their Champions League final defeat to Barcelona last season. Ferguson, yesterday, was still raging over how his "typical Germans" comment was reported in the aftermath of their Champions League elimination by Bayern Munich.

"It is hard to understand the press," he said.

"Someone told me that coming back from the Champions League final in Rome last year they were all delighted on the press bus that we lost.

"They were absolutely pleased that we lost; the English press.

"The person who told me was disgusted. That is a fact. He had no reason to lie to me.

"Our performance on Wednesday was fantastic. At 3-0 it could have been 5-0. We were magnificent. Absolutely magnificent.

"But that gets lost just because people want a headline out of what I said about the Germans. That is disgusting because the players deserved some praise."