'Horrendous' tackle leaves Ferguson fuming

(CNN) -- Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was left fuming after the "horrendous" Emanuel Pogatetz tackle which floored his young Brazilian midfielder Rodrigo Possebon on his full debut for the Premier League champions.

Possebon had to be given oxygen as he was stretchered off just after the hour mark in United's 3-1 win over Middlesbrough in the third round of the League Cup.

He was poleaxed by a studs-up sliding challenge which earned visiting captain Pogatetz a straight red card.

Possebon was kept in hospital overnight but United said on Wednesday that he had not broken his leg as feared, with knee ligament damage suspected.

The incident cast a shadow over United's victory, which featured goals from the returning Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs and Nani.

Ferguson was clearly sickened by the clash, exchanging angry words with the Middlesbrough bench and making his feelings clear in his post match comments.

"For the kid to make his first team debut and get an injury like that, it was pretty horrendous to be honest with you.

"For 10 minutes after it, everyone was numb and we lost our momentum but the thing about those challenges is it is always the case that the opponent claims he is innocent.

"That's what I couldn't understand. He should have walked right off. One of their bench was screaming that he shouldn't have been sent off and that there was nothing wrong with our player."

Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate later apologized for the incident and made no excuses for his captain's tackle.

"I have no complaints about the sending off and just have to hope that if he is seriously hurt the lad gets a full and speedy recovery.

"Obviously, in the context of the game, it turned the game against us as well, but our first thoughts are with the lad.

"A couple of lads on our bench didn't have the same view of it that I did. I could see it was a bad one and I think we have dealt with that with Sir Alex now. I explained that to him and put it right."

Pogatetz, who has worked hard to improve his disciplinary record, now faces internal disciplinary action by Middlesbrough and a minimum three-game ban by the English Football Association.

"That's not something I want to talk about publicly," said Southgate. "I have no complaints about the sending off, we apologized to the player and everything else stays within the club," he added.

The 19-year-old Possebon joined United in January 2008 from Brazilian side Internacional and came on as a subsitute in the 1-1 Premier League opener against Newcastle in August.