Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson ducked questions about Patrice Evra from French reporters yesterday.

Ferguson made light of a French reporter's attempts to talk about Evra's private life.

"Did someone throw a grenade in there?" he smiled.

Later, failing to locate a familiar English questioner as his voice loomed from the back of the room, he said with another grin: "I recognise that voice. I can feel it creeping over me like poison."