Man Utd boss Ferguson plays down manner of victory over AC Milan

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has moved to cool the fallout from their thrashing of AC Milan.

Once the fuss over David Beckham's green and gold exit and another two goals for Wayne Rooney has died down, the record books will show a quite staggering aggregate win over a fellow heavyweight that in the short-term has dispelled any remaining concerns about United's ability to challenge for major honours this season.

Ferguson recognises the enormity of the result. But, ahead of Sunday's encounter with Fulham, the Scot is also eager to introduce a note of caution.

"We have to calm ourselves down a little bit," he said.

"It was an emphatic result on Wednesday but they lost Alessandro Nesta on the morning of the game and then lost their centre-back at half-time. That made it difficult for them.

"It is the same as when we played Fulham a couple of months back. We had no centre-backs, so what do you expect?"