No questions were allowed, though as he went he was asked several journalists whether he had apologised to Beckham He did not reply. It was a graze, which the doctor dealt with.”Ferguson then announced he had no more to say before thanking his audience and striding, ruddy-faced and unrepentant, towards the exit. And contrary to a lot of reports, David didn’t have any stitches in his head. If I tried to do it [hit Beckham's face] a hundred times, or a million times, it couldn’t happen again If it did, I’d still be playing. Loyalty has to be 100 per cent ­ it can never be any less.”Having said that, it has obviously created publicity My only reaction is that it was a freakish incident. “No way could I ever betray the trust of players in taking anything out of the dressing-room, whatever benefit it may be It never works that way. In it, the Scot took what was possibly a swipe at Beckham ­ or maybe those close to him ­ for allowing a behind-closed-doors episode to become as public as a soap-opera storyline.”Regarding Saturday’s game, I have to say what I’ve said over my 29 years as a manager, which is that whatever happens in the dressing-room is sacrosanct,” Ferguson said.

The club doctor visited David’s house and fixed two steri-strips to stop the bleeding.”The tone and detail suggested Beckham was unhappy with the impression created by Ferguson’s statement earlier at the end of a press briefing at about tonight’s visit by Juventus in the Champions’ League. It also appeared, at least partially, to contradict the United manager’s description of the wound above Beckham’s left eyebrow as a “graze” that did not require stitches.Starkly, it read: “David did not want stitches at first, but two hours after the game, blood was still dripping from the wound. His first statement, issued by his management company, SFX, revealed that a doctor had to be called to staunch bleeding two hours after the match.In what sounded like a calculated riposte to Ferguson’s efforts to play down the incident, Beckham’s first official utterance on the subject had been unusually graphic and less-than-conciliatory. “The dressing-room incident was just one of those things ­ it’s all in the past now.”Earlier, following Ferguson’s attempt to kick into touch the tensions he created by kicking a boot into Beckham’s face after last Saturday’s FA Cup defeat by Arsenal, Beckham had demonstrated a marked reluctance to let the matter drop.

“I want to assure all United fans that there is complete harmony and focus as we prepare for the Juventus game,” he said. David Beckham last night pulled back from the brink of a potentially irrevocable split with Sir Alex Ferguson, stressing the “harmony” within the Manchester United camp after a day in which the Old Trafford manager and the England captain looked to be on collision course over the facial injury which Ferguson inadvertently inflicted on Beckham.
In his second statement of the evening, after an unapologetic Ferguson had held the stage in the afternoon, Beckham struck a placatory note which had been pointedly absent from his first. Meanwhile, Beckham stressed the “harmony” within the United camp last night as the team prepared for their match against Juventus. Three days after accidentally kicking a football boot into the face of David Beckham, Sir Alex Ferguson added insult to the injury he had inflicted on the England captain.
While the Beckham camp was suggesting an apology was in order yesterday for the outburst in the club dressing room, the Manchester United manager refused to say sorry – and then rubbed metaphorical salt in the cut above the player’s eye by describing it as no more than “a graze”.”Contrary to a lot of reports, David did not have two stitches in his head – he had no stitches,” Sir Alex told a packed press conference, which might have been expecting a more contrite attitude from the Scot. Remarkably, Lippi’s men have won only once, at Dynamo Kiev, in their last 20 away fixtures in the competition ­ a record as sorry as their sick list.Manchester United (4-4-1-1; probable): Barthez; G Neville, Ferdinand, Brown, Silvestre; Beckham, Keane, Butt, Giggs; Scholes; Van Nistelrooy.Juventus (4-4-2; probable): Chimenti; Thuram, Montero, Ferrara, Pessotto; Camoranesi, Tacchinardi, Davids, Nedved; Trezeguet, Zalayeta.Referee: K M Nielsen (Denmark).. There is another statistic which should fire Ferguson’s optimism. “We know it’s not an English game, but a European one.”Intriguingly, United are the top scorers in this season’s tournament, whereas Juventus share the meanest defensive record.

“In the past few seasons, our patience and tactical nous have improved in Europe,” he asserted. Was it more important than the Arsenal match, in which failure had angered him so demonstrably? “If you take away the tribal warfare of the English game,” he replied, “this has to be more important.”He is confident that the status of the confrontation will not lure United into an over-eagerness which could play into Juve’s hands. “Given the circumstances, that he knew he would miss the final after being booked, Roy was incredible that night.”Ferguson will look to Keane to ensure that United “bounce back”, not that he expects his players will need motivating for a game he rates “the biggest in the world on the night”. That was in the semi-final second leg in 1999 when, having been held at home, United won 3-2 in the Stadio del Alpi after going 2-0 down inside 10 minutes.