Sir Alex Ferguson felt contrasting emotions after United's dramatic draw with CSKA Moscow which booked the Reds a spot in last 16 of the Champions League.

United came from 3-1 down to rescue a point thanks to a Paul Scholes header and an injury-time own goal from Georgi Schennikov.

While delighted with his team's powers of recovery, he was less impressed by the Reds' defensive play.

"We were absolutely fantastic in terms of our desire to win the match and were unlucky at times in the game," he told MUTV. "Their goalkeeper made some fantastic saves, we hit the post and missed a lot of other chances. And we also had a stonewall penalty turned down.

"But we didn't make it easy for ourselves and it became an uphill fight. That's maybe not a bad thing though because it's a reminder that when you leave yourself open in European football it can be very dangerous.

"Their first two goals were soft goals to lose and the third was unbelievable - a free header at the back post on a set-piece. That's the first goal we've lost on a set-piece for a year; it's a good reminder for us about how we need to defend those situations, especially as we'll face a lot of set-pieces on Sunday at Chelsea."

It wasn't just United's defensive play which irked the manager, it was referee Olegario Benquerenca's staggering decision to book Darren Fletcher for diving when the Scot had clearly been tripped by Aleksei Berezutski in the area in the second half.

"I can't believe the decision. It's one of the worst I've seen in my lifetime," admitted a bemused Sir Alex. "And there's not a thing we can do about it unfortunately.