Thanks for the reference to Barcelona and very appropriate reference to Franco when talking about Real Madrid! Alex, you are the best.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/7416981.stm Ferguson slams Real over Ronaldo
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has accused Real Madrid of lacking morals in their pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Real coach Bernd Schuster and president Ramon Calderon have both expressed a desire to see Ronaldo at The Bernabeu.
Ferguson, fresh from United's Champions League truimph, said: "Schuster's talking and Calderon's talking.
"Real think they can ride roughshod over everyone, but they won't do it with us. They have no moral issues."
And Ferguson drew a comparison with Real's fierce rivals Barcelona as he fought to draw a line under continuing speculation surrounding the 23-year-old Portuguese winger's future.
He said: "In terms of great clubs, Barcelona have far better morality than Real Madrid will ever have. Real use this Marca newspaper as a vehicle to unsettle players.
"Do you not think we have had many expressions of interest about our players from big clubs in Europe?
"Real Madrid are not the only club interested in Ronaldo. But the others are not saying so. They don't get into this nonsense.
"Calderon makes that great statement 'slavery was abolished many years ago'. Did they tell General Franco that? Give me a break.
"The simple fact is Cristiano has another four years left on his contract."
United have sold David Beckham, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Gabriel Heinze to Real in recent years, but Ferguson insisted the case of Ronaldo was different.
He said: "Yes, we sold them Van Nistelrooy and Beckham but we did that because we wanted to."
And Argentine defender Heinze was transferred to Real last summer after failing in a public battle to secure a move to United's arch-rivals Liverpool.
