Manchester Utd 0 Portsmouth 1: Ferguson fury after Muntari sends United crashing out

Scot furious at referee and Ronaldo demands protection

Pompey's Muntari (left) celebrates his decisive penalty as emergency goalkeeper Rio Ferdinand looks on (Reuters)

In the week that Sir Alex Ferguson had refuted claims after an interview for French radio that he plans to quit in three years, he stressed that his retirement date depended on the success of his team – and his health. His players will recover from this, but yesterday there was some doubt whether the old ticker would last the match, let alone years.

Seasoned Fergie-watchers have rarely seen the Manchester United manager so animated as he witnessed his team capitulate 12 minutes from time to a Sulley Muntari penalty and Pompey recorded their first victory here for 51 years. They did so on a day of two penalty claims: the one rightly awarded, followed by the dismissal of substitute goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak; and the one denied United early on, wrongly. Ferguson's ire over that incident was surely exacerbated by the fact that, in between, his men should have confirmed their attendance at Wembley.

Ferguson's hackles were raised as early as the sixth minute. A beautiful ball inside Hermann Hreidarsson by Wayne Rooney invited Cristiano Ronaldo to drift inside the Icelander but he was then charged off the ball by Sylvain Distin. It looked like a penalty but referee Martin Atkinson was unmoved.

It provoked a major strop, with an enraged manager berating the referee, assistant and fourth official. Afterwards there was no evidence that Ferguson was in a more reflective mood as he said of Atkinson's failure to act: "It's absolutely ridiculous. I cannot explain it. Managers get sacked because of things like that and he's going to referee a game next week. They had great confidence to hang on knowing the referee was on their side." He also attacked the referees' chief Keith Hackett. "He's not doing his job properly. He needs to be assessed. I'm assessed as a manager, players are assessed, referees should be assessed properly by the right people."

And Ronaldo raised the temperature further by declaring: "They say sometimes that this is the best League in the world, but sometimes they don't protect the skilled players. It's a joke. I may have to change my game. After what happened to that Arsenal player [Eduardo] I'm scared to use my skills." That appeared something of an overreaction. Arguably the most dangerous challenge in the game was a jump tackle by Rooney that was punished by a caution.

But in the furore that followed, it was easy to forget this was Portsmouth's day. It was far from Harry Redknapp's first FA Cup triumph over United; his Bourne-mouth side beat them in 1984, and the West Ham team he then managed did it in 2001. "We came here four weeks ago and got beat 2-0," he admitted. "They could have had 10. Today we had a gameplan and stuck with it, and we grafted. But you always have to ride your luck here."

Beforehand, Ferguson spoke of his concern about the physical stature of the opposition. But though Pompey did seemingly emerge from the land of the giants, there is much quality too. When he warned that Pompey are having their best season in 50 years it proved prescient.

Though Niko Kranjcar produced their only first-half chance, they looked comfortable in that period, other than when Carlos Tevez and Rooney found themselves two against one on the break and really should have scored. Somehow Sol Campbell and David James foiled Rooney and with the keeper out of his goal, Glen Johnson headed off the line from the Argentinian.

After the interval, United looked certain to score. Ronaldo's aim was awry twice and United might have thought this would not be their day when substitute Michael Carrick rounded James but was thwarted by Distin, virtually on the line. Patrice Evra then saw his ferocious effort tipped on to a post by James.

There was a cruel inevitability about what happened next. Kranjcar and substitute Milan Baros broke; the latter was felled by Kuszczak, who came on at half-time after Van der Sar sustained a groin injury. Rio Ferdinand took over in goal but could not deny Muntari from the spot.

So Pompey go to Wembley for the first time since 1939. That choice of venue for a semi-final was another thing that irked Ferguson this week. At least he will not have to concern himself with that now.