Ronaldo - Ref got it wrong

Winger insists he was caught by King

Last updated: 2nd March 2009  

Ronaldo - Ref got it wrong

Ronaldo: Wrong to be booked

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Cristiano Ronaldo insists he should not have been booked for diving during Manchester United's Carling Cup final win over Tottenham Hotspur.

The United winger was cautioned by referee Chris Foy in the second half of Sunday's game at Wembley following a challenge by Ledley King inside the box.

Foy cautioned the Portuguese ace for simulation, but Ronaldo is adamant he was caught by King and was unfairly treated by the match official.

"If you see the replay you will see that their player kicked me in the foot," said Ronaldo.

"The referee did not make the right decision then and he didn't give me a lot, all match, I don't know why.

"But in every game, the referee's decision has to be respected."

Feet on the ground

Ronaldo, who hit the post at the end of normal time, stepped up to score in the penalty shoot-out and was happy to find the net after missing against Chelsea in last season's UEFA Champions League final.

He added: "It's always important to choose a side and put the ball there.

"After Moscow I thought the goalkeeper would think I put it in the same corner but I changed."

United's Carling Cup success has only fuelled talk of a famous quintuple this season, but Ronaldo is not getting carried away by the chance to make history.

"It is quite hard," he said.

"We have to think game to game. We won this cup now, we are top of the league and still in the Champions League and FA Cup.

"With United there is always an opportunity to win everything but we need to keep our feet on the ground."

Comments (57)

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James Kaye (Nottingham Forest fan) says...

@ James Forde You are spot on. I don't necessarily think it's fair to blame the referees though, it's FIFA who needs to be blamed. They are the ones who have told the referees to be this ridiculous. It all started around the 2006 World Cup, with their pathetic guidelines on what is a red card as that's when the "intent" rule came in, where you can get sent off for something which "could" endanger someone, but actually caused no harm at all. You are right though, if people didn't get given free kicks for diving, they wouldn't do it as there would be nothing to gain.

Posted 09:31 3rd March 2009

Eamonn O'neill (Manchester United fan) says...

Players week in and week out are always trying their luck around the 18 yard line with the ref,has been like that for 30 yrs if I remember correctly,The main trophy for Man United to get is the Premiership and keep it away from the chasing scum

Posted 08:52 3rd March 2009

Mark Masiak (Arsenal fan) says...

It is a shame that Ronaldo should dive like this, he is a talented player but this is just plain old cheating. I've seen him diving and having a good old ground beating tantrum when he doesn't get a card for diving. This ploy of diving and leaving the foot in to fake a foul he's deployed many times before. The FA should step in her with the allegations he has made on the Ref under the ruling of bringing the game into disrepute, these comments undermine the essence of "respect". If the FA do not then they can not ask for respect from players or the fans. Give respect stop cheating.

Posted 07:37 3rd March 2009

Darren Fahy (Blackburn Rovers fan) says...

The guy is a wonderfully gifted footballer but his attitude is totally wrong. His diving and whinging and moaning is getting a bit old at this stage and he needs to start being a man. He's very tall and very well built but goes down like a house of cards. Have you ever lionel messi play? he gets kicked and shoved around every week and even when he's fouled he gets up and tries to play on!! thats why CR will never be the best player in the world in my opinion

Posted 04:18 3rd March 2009

Thor Simon (Arsenal fan) says...

That was a deserved yellow card! From what I've seen he dived. He had already dived before King touched him...It was a 'good' dive though I must say, because everybody are still arguing even after seeing all the replays...but if you look closely you have too see that he fell before king came close to him But this was I think definetly down to the 'wolf, wolf' syndrome for ronaldo...I'm not sure Giggs or messi would've been cautioned for the same thing for example

Posted 00:49 3rd March 2009

James Forde (Weston-S-Mare fan) says...

I'm sorry. None of you understand this game. It is 100% the fault of referees - they are the ones that have destroyed this game. Think about this for a second. If a referee took his eyes off the man with the ball... and he focused on the defender... he would NEVER have any trouble deciding whether or not a foul has been committed. When a player fouls another player - he kicks him, he pulls his shirt, he pushes him - all these things are plainly visible if you are watching the player that has supposedly committed the foul. When you watch the player that has 'been fouled' all you see is theatrics. You see what he wants you to see. It is about time that referees start understanding this game. Imagine if referees started actually looking for fouls as they are commited! Players that dive would be found out immediately. When they aren't given a free kick, they roll around on the ground looking pathetic... and I bet they get up pretty quick and get on with it. This whole diving business could be eliminated within two weeks if referees paid attention to the 'foul' and not the theatrics. You can't blame Ronaldo. Do you think he would roll around on the floor like a fool if he wasn't given free kicks all the time? Of course not - he would get up and get on with it. The same can be said for all the other cheaters out there. They will stop if they are not rewarded for their behaviour. Every player does what he has to so that he can win. That is why we have referees - to make sure the game is played fairly. I'm sick of hearing complaints about players - the men officiating the game need to be held accountable. It is not that hard - stop hiding behind this 'real time' fallacy you can't see anything... and watch the defender for the foul... watch what he does and every decision becomes pretty simple. You don't need instant replays to work that out.

Posted 00:48 3rd March 2009

Gary Mitchell (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...

Let's just take a look at the bigger picture. Yes, Ronaldo will fall over if someone so much as looks at him but, as many have pointed out, although he is arguably the worst, he is not the only one that does it. In the interest of the future of football, the FA need to take a stand and the players that are seen to be diving, should be fined along with their club, who are the ones encouraging players to do so. The amount of money nowadays involved in the sport, means that a penalty or free kick around the edge of the box, can be the difference between winning or losing, being relegated or staying up, qualifying or not. The financial penalty for failure can be immense, hence the desire to win at all costs. On another note, I don't believe that Man U deserved to win the Carling Cup Final any more than Spurs did. The game was very evenly matched and was decided by a lottery.

Posted 00:44 3rd March 2009

Piku G. (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...

Ronaldo is lying. If you look closely at the replay, King grazes the ball before catching Ronaldo's foot. Also, Ronaldo's fall was very animated, and he appeared to begin diving before the challenge. Finally, he was trying to get the penalty called against King - he pushed the ball ahead of him and brought his own foot in late in an elaborate effort to get the penalty. I'm also upset that Ronaldo would choose his words so arrogantly. He refers to Ledley, who by the way has an immaculate reputation as a master of the game both physically and mentally, as "their player." In other words, he does not respect Tottenham the club or Ledley King the defender. One last point I would like to make is that if you were to put Ronaldo up against Ledley King one-on-one and tell Ronaldo to try to get past King, he would never be able to. The King would smother Ronaldo's efforts all day long.

Posted 23:04 2nd March 2009

Karl Dammer (Manchester United fan) says...

Yes Ronaldo dives, but on the other hand he dives no more or less than Gerrard or Drogba, or Torres who has developed a nice talent for the ground flop in the last two years. However, what Ronaldo has in his favor is he is kicked from pillar to post week in week out and he rides far more tackles than he dives for. If he was protected from being hacked I actually think his diving would not exist, Crisitano gets frustrated, hes kicked and dragged and pulled and the ref ignores it and I think he just gets tired and gets some revenge. Also it now means that despite the fact against Spurs he DIDNT dive, he gets booked just for being Ronaldo which is no excuse at all for refs. I dont think it was a pen although it could have been 50-50, but it certainly wasnt a dive. The last one he got booked for was a clear pen and you just have to stare at the ref in amusement. Then you look at the "foul" which the ref claimed Ronaldo commited to dissallow Uniteds goal last week and you are left scratching your head, refs clearly show their bias against Ronaldo and I think he has a right to be frustrated, hes still young enough to be learning but he deserves more protection than he gets. So many teams think :kick the hell out of Ronaldo" is an acceptable tactic and the refs appear to agree, that for me has to change.

Posted 22:53 2nd March 2009

Mike Johnson (Fulham fan) says...

Being a Yank, I enjoy watching ManU and Fulham and watch every weekend. Grew up a fan of ManU and Fulham recently due to the fact that I like the style they play and Andy Johnson, Clint Dempsey (my US boy), and Danny Murphy play a great brand of football. Christiano has a reputation of diving, it happens all over the pitch in all the games every week. He, being such a great player is going to get noticed more often. He is strong, quick and powerful enough to break through alot of the tackles, but decides to fall. . . . he needs to man up, as we say here. Unrelated note, I hope to make it to Craven Cottage when I finally get to make my trip to England.

Posted 22:19 2nd March 2009

Nathan Stringer (Manchester United fan) says...

If the world was as simple as black and white then it would have been a pen but the world isnt and to be honest ronny was on his way down before contact was made. but i do agree ronny does get much more stick than any other player (i know he doesnt help himself) how many times does drogba fall over (dive) for chelsea and lets be honest comparing the two drogba should be able to handle alot more challenges than ronny, then theres gerrard a world class player one of the best for years but ive seen loads of dirty 2 footed challenges that could break peoples legs and its forgotton fact is if ronaldo was english no matter what club he played for there wouldnt be this debate.

Posted 22:07 2nd March 2009

Waqar Khan (Manchester United fan) says...

Yes it was a penalty, thats just the end. But because of his reputation it wasn't given. The penalty should have been given but the ref wanted to look big and just not give it. And people are saying that Ronaldo was already going down, he was going down because he was running so fast he couldn't keep his balance and clearly from the replays shown, it shows that king stepped on his foot.

Posted 22:06 2nd March 2009

Paul The brit (Manchester United fan) says...

Did you actually see the incident? If not please dont comment and if so then you can clearly see it was a dive from Cristiano Ronaldo. Please dont tarnish all Man Utd fans with the same brush that some of these have obviously used to paint over their rose tainted glasses in black! Ronaldo and the vast majority of the squad is ouzing with talent - We dont need the theatrics. Sure Sir Alex isnt amused with it either.

Posted 21:44 2nd March 2009

Jamie Shaw (Liverpool fan) says...

I am a Liverpool fan and yet I still have to praise Ronaldos style of play. Its fast, its furious and it does involve skill(a little at most to be honest), however I personally believe his best traits are speed, and positioning as hes always in the right place at the right time. I must say however that the boy does dive more than most, and more infuriating than that, when he lashes out nothing seems to happen. Twice(as already stated) he has kicked out in revenge, in plain view and nothing has happened. I think on both occasions he was brought down, but anyone else(Richard Dunne) gets shown the door immediately. Also, to the guy mouthing off about how hard done by Utd is, all Liverpool has had all year is stick, even when we were top, Benitez makes a few dodgy comments, just like Ferguson every year, yet suddenly its an 'astonishing outburst', a 'rant', 'lashing out'.

Posted 21:35 2nd March 2009

Mahdi Sharif (Manchester United fan) says...

Everybody knows Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player so far due to his 42 goals last season. Furthermore this player should not have recieved a yellow card because the defender clearly stepped on his foot even though he does dive this time it didn't seem like a dive. In addition this player is the most determined and dedicated player alive im not just saying that because I am a Manchester United fan.

Posted 21:30 2nd March 2009

Si Livesey says...

I bleed United red. However, this game aside (it was a penalty), I am sick of seeing CR diving. Give him a real taste of Manchester working class ethics and stick him in a Sunday pub side match against 11 blokes with a hangover and see if his histrionics continue.

Posted 21:30 2nd March 2009

Matt Powles (aston villa fan) says...

To be quite honest, i dont think there is enough respect for referees these days. Every player should remember that the referee is in control. I didnt see the dive, however every story i have heard of it, Man u fan or not. Is that he dived. and if a penalty was given. That maybe would have cost tottenham the game. For all anyone knew while the game was progressing, tottenham could of won. But they wouldnt of if ronaldo cheated the ref yet again, yes he is a tremendous player, but he needs to learn a bit of respect. But its over now, in the end i suppose Untied Won fairly.

Posted 21:26 2nd March 2009

Kamau Njoroge says...

Ronaldo did not dive, end of. Whether it was a penalty or not is not the question, the question is what refs want the Mighty Ronaldo to do when he's tackled. We see tackles every minute in footbal but its pathetic the best footballer in the world is not allowed to fall in the pitch unless he's injured. Am sure if he slips and falls, these refs will book him to prove a point to the fans.

Posted 21:24 2nd March 2009

Neil West (Leeds United fan) says...

As an ex local player & referee, just want to point out that the referee does not have the luxury of replay after replay. he ( or she ) sees it once, and has to make a split second decision. be it Ronaldo, Drogba, Robben ( when he was at Chelsea, and against Liverpool in Champions League last week ) they are always diving, so, cry wolf once too often and the yellow card will 1 day be the 2nd of a game, and a Sending off. Then listen to Sir Alex squeal. One final point, how does Ronaldo ALWAYS know where to look for the Referee when he hits the ground appealing for his " penalty " ? Is it complete awareness of the referee's positioning, luck or something pre-meditated ???

Posted 20:56 2nd March 2009

Matt Hendrick (Liverpool fan) says...

I think Ronaldo must forget what his reputation is...he does not realise that he dives too many times and refs will not be fooled anymore, so he will not keep getting the benifit of the doubt! He is a great player but not the best in the world, that goes too messi...and for as good as messi is ronaldos attitude is as bad. Messi is a real footballer and a great role model and doesnt spend nearly as much time on the deck!!!

Posted 20:46 2nd March 2009
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