Cristiano Ronaldo is a hate figure to most away fans at Old Trafford, with cheers resounding from the away end whenever he is fouled. Sir Alex Ferguson has long called for better protection of our Portuguese winger, who is currently the best player in the World, with little response from the referees.
Following the poor refereeing display this afternoon as we faced Portsmouth, Ronaldo has gone as far as to say he is going to change his playing style, in hope he’ll be on the receiving end of fewer fouls if he does.
Ronaldo, who has already had stonewall penalties at Old Trafford turned away, against Michael Brown and Antti Niemi, was again a victim of a foul in the box, and again the referee waved play on.
Following the defeat, Ronaldo spoke of his frustration concerning referees in this country, following the foul by Distin. “He (Distin) didn’t try to take the ball. It’s a joke,” said Ronaldo. “It’s very frustrating, the referee was unbelievable. He didn’t want to give the penalty, he didn’t want to give yellow cards - I’m very disappointed. Refs don’t protect skilful players. I think about the Arsenal player (Eduardo) and I’m scared sometimes to do skills because some players do unbelievable fouls and the ref protects the defender, not the skilled player! It’s very disappointing and I’m thinking a lot about changing my game. When referees don’t give penalties, yellow cards or reds, it’s difficult to play.”
Does Ronaldo have to change his game to avoid these terrible challenges?
It’s a sad commentary on the state of the game in England, when scrunching (and very dangerous) tackles are cheered, and a bit of outrageous skill is considered a lack of respect for opponents - what the hell are players supposed to do? Not show the defender up as inadequate?
One just hopes the Eduardo incident causes the referees to wake up, and afford better protection to the players who make this the beautiful game. Would be a tragedy if they were forced to abandon their natural instincts to avoid injury.