Sir Alex Ferguson has done little to dampen his public dispute with Rafa Benitez by querying why the Spaniard used his press conference ahead of the Champions League tie with Chelsea to focus on the Manchester United manager.
Benitez memorably launched into an attack on Ferguson in January, presenting what he infamously called the ‘facts’ about the United manager’s conduct with match officials and addressing his opponent’s misgivings about the fixture list.
The Reds boss also claimed ahead of his side’s 3-1 defeat to Chelsea that Ferguson was ‘scared’ of Liverpool’s resurgence following their impressive 4-1 win at Old Trafford and that the Scot would be supporting the Merseysiders in the Champions League tie.
While Benitez was responding to questions put to him in the open forum of a press conference, Ferguson is bemused as to why his name was brought up once again.
"If you ask me a question about other teams, I'll give you an opinion. There's no fault in that,” said Ferguson.
"Arsene Wenger was talking about Manchester United a couple of weeks ago when he was asked a question and he gave a fair answer.
"But the interesting thing as far as Rafa Benitez is concerned is that he's got a European tie [against Chelsea] and he's talking about Alex Ferguson.
“Fantastic. I didn't know I was that important."
When asked whether he felt he had got under Benitez’s skin, Ferguson smiled and replied: "I have no more comment to make."