Rooney: Sent off in Montenegro

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has refused to condemn Wayne Rooney for his red card in Montenegro last week.

Ferguson is expecting to see star striker on Wednesday for the first time since Rooney was sent off for lashing out while on England duty.

The incident has already led to a minimum one-match ban and a warning from Fabio Capello that the 25-year-old may not find it easy to win his place back at Euro 2012.

Ferguson has still to see the actual incident in Podgorica.

However, after witnessing huge improvement in the player's temperament over the past couple of years, a rebuke appears unlikely.

"I have texted him but he has not got back to me," Ferguson revealed in an interview on US-based digital radio station Sirius XM's 'The Football Show'.

"He will be disappointed. I haven't seen it at all but it sounds like it was one of these reflex actions by the boy. He has been tackled and he has reacted.

"He has this fiery temper which, to my mind, is not the worst thing in the world."

Ferguson was asked if he ever feared he would not be able to "harness his energies in a positive way".

"We do that," said the Scot. "He has shown tremendous improvement in his temperament and his reactions to tackles and things over the past few years.

"As maturity comes along it brings other things. It brings responsibility. He is improving all the time."

It has been suggested Rooney reacted due to the pressure he was under following his father's arrest on Friday, not that Ferguson was offering any opinion on that matter.

"I have no idea," he said.

"It is difficult to say with these things. I will see him tomorrow."

Certainly Rooney's place in Ferguson's starting line-up for Saturday's trip to Liverpool will not be governed by that incident alone.

Although the forward was left out of a trip to Everton last season due to Ferguson's concerns about the reception he would receive on Merseyside, it hardly seems plausible he would go into such a game without a player who has already scored nine goals this season.

Indeed, with Manchester City visiting Old Trafford on October 23, Ferguson accepts the next two games could be pivotal to United's hopes of retaining their Premier League title.

"These two games will be a great test for our young players," he said.

"They will be great emotional games but we will be ready for it.

"With all the big derbies it is intense because all these supporters work beside each other.

"They hope they can go to work on Monday morning and have the bragging rights until the next derby game comes along."