Following Manchester United’s injury time win over Manchester City, Rio Ferdinand was struck in the face by a coin. Whilst most people were united in their condemnation of this fan, some suggested that Rio deserved it for provoking the City fans.
Ferdinand celebrated directly in front of the away supporters who were sitting behind the goal. The City fans were sitting in the stand next to them. Had Rio run directly to the stand of home fans, he still wouldn’t deserve to be struck by a coin, but the fact he was celebrating with United fans makes the criticism of Rio all the more ridiculous.
Ryan Giggs has today supported Rio by claiming he has every right to celebrate such an important goal.
“When you score a goal like that you don’t have control of yourself,” said Giggs. “First of all it’s tough at City because their supporters are right next to our supporters. When they are so close together how can you determine whether you are just celebrating in front of United fans? If you just scored that goal and walked back to the centre circle, United fans would want to know ‘what’s going on there?’. The manager would be like ‘what you doing? Celebrate’. We have stamped it out going into the crowd, you get an instant booking. You have still got to enjoy that sort of experience, but obviously the players and fans can’t go too far.”
