Brazilian coach Scolari, who rejected the chance to succeed Sven Goran Eriksson as England coach last summer, has enraged Ferguson by suggesting that Queiroz is attempting to secure a job with the Portuguese national team by attending their international matches.

The Mozambique-born Queiroz was in Coimbra in midweek watching United winger Cristiano Ronaldo in action for Portugal against Kazakhstan in a Euro 2008 qualifier.

Ronaldo had been a doubt for the game after suffering an ankle injury against Blackburn last Saturday, but Ferguson is angry at Scolari's criticism of Queiroz over his motives for attending the game.

Ferguson said: "What confuses me is Scolari's comments about Carlos.

"He inferred that Carlos had spoken to him and marked his card that Ronaldo was all right, but then gave a different story to the press to keep the Manchester United fans happy.

"But Carlos never spoke to Scolari at all and I'm confused about that and I don't understand why he is saying it because Carlos is a professional and a fantastic professional at that.

"The other comment Scolari made was that Carlos is hanging around Portugal games looking for a job! That's a crazy thing to say.

"I'm sure Scolari goes to watch Benfica or Porto at some point, but does that mean he is after the guy's job?

"All of my coaches and scouts have been around Europe watching games this week and I'm sure they are all still working for me!"

Ferguson, who takes his team to Sheffield United on Saturday aiming to hold onto their three-point lead ahead of Chelsea at the top of the table, insisted that he had no concerns over Ronaldo's fitness for the Kazakhstan clash.

The United boss had upset Scolari after being reported as claiming that Portugal could beat the group minnows without the youngster.

However, Ferguson claims that United were always content for the Portuguese to judge Ronaldo's fitness.

He said: "I didn't know about the state of Ronaldo's injury after the Blackburn game last week because by the time I got back to the dressing room after an interview, he had left to catch a private plane.

"So we didn't know the condition he was in. He was taken off with a knock and normally you would wait until the following day to assess it, but there was no way of telling with Ronaldo because he was away.

"We said we were happy for the Portuguese medical staff to deal with it because that's their job. It was a European Championship qualifier, a big game, so we were happy for Ronaldo to play.

"The big issue is the friendly games, but that has always been an issue and that won't change."