Carlos Tévez's representative Kia Joorabchian speaks on Gary Neville row

Efforts by the FA and police to quell tensions before Wednesday night’s potentially explosive Carling Cup tie at Old Trafford were ignored yesterday when the representative of Carlos Tévez continued the war of words with Gary Neville by accusing the Manchester United captain of “lacking class”.

Kia Joorabchian defended Tévez for calling Neville a “boot-licking moron” and believes that the Manchester City forward was entitled to hit back at the United defender for suggesting that the Barclays Premier League champions were right not to sign the Argentinian last summer.

Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, has also stoked the fires by claiming that Tévez should be banned for the eagerly awaited semi-final, second leg for a challenge on Wes Brown during the first match - which City won 2-1 - six days ago that he believes warranted a red card.

The latest brickbats came as Greater Manchester Police (GMP) revealed that an extra 75 police officers than normal will be on duty on Wednesday, with spot checks to be made at pubs around the ground as they hope to avoid a repeat of the events that marred the first game between the clubs. On that occasion, 18 people were arrested and missiles, including golf balls and darts, were confiscated from United supporters.

Further talks between the clubs and the FA and GMP will take place today, but despite the governing body vowing privately to take severe sanctions if there is more inflammatory behaviour, that did not prevent Joorabchian from wading into Tévez’s feud with Neville, which started when the United player hinted that his former team-mate was not worth £25.5 million. Tévez eventually joined City in a £47 million deal.

The pair escaped disciplinary action despite exchanging gestures in a pitch-side confrontation during the first leg.

“I don’t think he made derogatory remarks about Gary Neville,” Joorabchian said. “When you are a professional football player, what you have to have is respect for your companions. If you don’t have respect for your companions and you don’t have class, then you have to accept that they are entitled to say something back.

“Gary Neville stepped in something that maybe he shouldn’t have done and, since he didn’t have that respect, Carlos felt he needed to give an answer. If Gary Neville is talking about values, he should then talk about whether [Dimitar] Berbatov was worth whatever or [Andrey] Arshavin or Cristiano Ronaldo. Then we get into another field. I don’t expect him and Gary Neville to be friends any time soon.”