Sir Alex Ferguson urged Uefa to review Darren Fletcher’s controversial booking after Manchester United came from behind to claw their way into the Champions League knockout stages with an enthralling 3-3 draw against CSKA Moscow at Old Trafford last night.

Wayne Rooney celebrated becoming a father by coming off the substitutes’ bench to inspire a dramatic fightback, but Ferguson was outraged by the referee’s decision to deny Fletcher a clear penalty and show him a yellow card for diving.

There was an equally thrilling finish to Chelsea’s tie away to Atlético Madrid, when Didier Drogba scored twice on his return from a three-match European ban only for Carlo Ancelotti’s side to concede a stoppage-time equaliser in a 2-2 draw. Like United, though, Chelsea are also through to the last 16.

Although yellow cards cannot be appealed, Ferguson has asked the European governing body to make an exception after branding Olegario Benquerenca’s decision to book Fletcher as “the worst I have ever seen in my lifetime”. It appeared that the midfield player clearly had been tripped.

Ferguson fears that the yellow card could come back to haunt United and Fletcher, who missed the Champions League final against Barcelona in May after being controversially sent off in the semi-final against Arsenal. “It was unbelievable,” the United manager said. “For what reason would a player being six or eight yards out even think about that.

“The problem is you can’t even appeal a yellow card. We are talking about European football, where that is an important booking for us. If later in the tournament Fletcher is to miss an important game because of that, it’s unfair. Uefa should look at that. They won’t, but they should. It was a human error but it doesn’t matter, it was a bad mistake.”

United were trailing 3-1 when Rooney was introduced in the 58th minute, only 36 hours after his wife, Coleen, gave birth to a baby boy, Kai, and made a telling impact, twice having efforts well saved. Paul Scholes made it 3-2 with a header before Antonio Valencia’s deflected strike ensured that United qualified with two matches to spare.

“Wayne did make an impact, there is no doubt,” Ferguson said. “He’s not had much sleep. Players at this level need to get a lot of rest, but the third goal forced my hand and you want players who can get a goal for you, so that’s why I put him on.

“When they got the third goal it knocked us back for ten or 15 minutes, we couldn’t get any momentum. Their goalkeeper was fantastic, but we deserved the result because we kept going.

“There were times when we were strung out very easily but we should have been 4-0 up before they even scored a goal. We were so open the way the system was, but that was my fault with the system I picked.”

Drogba struck twice in the last ten minutes to give Chelsea the lead after they had fallen behind to a goal from Sergio Agüero. However, they were denied victory when Agüero scored again from a free kick.

Drogba was suspended for his behaviour towards the officials after the semi-final elimination by Barcelona in May and Ancelotti was relieved to have the Ivory Coast forward back. “I would not change him for any other striker,” the Chelsea manager said.

Ancelotti did not believe that the ban had given Drogba extra impetus, but he did feel that last night’s display by the striker was special. “He was motivated at the start of the season and has been doing very well,” Ancelotti said. “I hope he can play like this in other games.”

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