Cristiano Ronaldo can’t do much to help his club because of his 3-match ban, but his goal was crucial to rescue Portugal from an embarrassing defeat against Armenia in their Euro 2008 qualifier on Wednesday (August 22).
Ronaldo scored a lovely goal on 38th minute to equalize the match, which ended 1-1. Below is the video of the goal…
Sir Alex Ferguson has taken disciplinary action against Cristiano Ronaldo after the headbutt offence that prompted the second red card of the Portugal winger’s career in Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Portsmouth on Wednesday.
Ronaldo is to miss United’s next three matches, starting with Sunday’s derby at Manchester City, and Ferguson intends to impose a mandatory club fine. Under PFA guidelines, the maximum is two weeks’ wages, which means Ronaldo could be docked around £230,000. Ferguson believes Ronaldo was “provoked” but was incensed by the player’s rash response. [Guardian]
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Manchester United suffered a 0-1 shock defeat in the Manchester derby on Sunday (August 19); Brazilian midfielder Geovanni scored the only goal for Manchester City to clinch the victory.
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has called for greater protection from referees to prevent Cristiano Ronaldo from sustaining serious injury.
The Portuguese winger was sent off for violent conduct at Portsmouth on Wednesday and while Ferguson had no quibbles about the red card, he believes his player was provoked by a series of heavy challenges that went unpunished by referee Steve Bennett.
‘My fear is, and I don’t whether there is a directive, but maybe referees are a bit more tolerant of the physical contact,’ Ferguson told reporters on Friday.
‘We saw it again on Wednesday night, the referee letting it go unpunished time and time again. If you have got weak referees then you are going to be suffering.’
Premiership has started again… but Manchester United didn’t get a happy start. The Red Devils only managed a 0-0 draw with Reading at Old Trafford on Sunday, despite playing with an extra man for a third of the game after Dave Kitson was sent off on the 58th minute.
To make it worse for United, star striker Wayne Rooney was injured in the 1st half, and it’s later confirmed that he suffered a hairline fracture, the exact time of recovery was not revealed but Rooney could be sidelined for up to 3 months.
The omission of Cristiano Ronaldo from United’s squad to face Glentoran on Wednesday is merely a precautionary measure against a minor ankle injury.
The Portuguese winger had been expected to line up against the Glens at the Oval, but was conspicuous by his absence as the Reds flew to Belfast on Wednesday morning.
A Club spokesman told ManUtd.com: “Cristiano has been left out of tonight’s friendly against Glentoran with a slight ankle knock. He was left in Manchester as a precaution.
“He will train on Friday and is expected to be fit for Sunday’s game against Reading.”
The news is a further boost to Sir Alex Ferguson, who was able to include knee injury victim Paul Scholes in the squad for Wednesday’s other friendly.
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Cristiano Ronaldo is demanding Manchester United target Premier League and UEFA Champions League glory this season.
The Portuguese winger is adamant that the summer additions of Nani, Anderson, Owen Hargreaves and the impending arrival of Carlos Tevez have made United even stronger than last term.
“Our team is stronger than it was last year,” Ronaldo said.
“It is always difficult to win the Premier League but we have bought four great players so we don’t just want to win the league, we want the Champions League as well.”
Ronaldo, who was United’s driving force in their penalty shoot-out win over Chelsea in the Community Shield on Sunday, accepts United are not yet at their best, but the 22 year-old expects an improvement before the season starts.
“We have seven days to prepare now before the serious games start,” Ronaldo added.
“We are not at 100 per cent yet but at least we have started off the way we wanted.”
Edwin Van der Sar was the hero in penalty shootout, saving all 3 penalties to clinch the Community Shield for Manchester United. The game ended in a 1-1 draw, with no extra time played.
Chelsea started the game without some key players; captain John Terry, striker Didier Drogba and midfielder Claude Makelele were among the absentees. Manchester United have their fair share of injuries, but started with a more complete squad obviously.
It was Chelsea that took charge of the game early on, controlling more possessions. United only started to control the match mid-way through the 1st half, after Ronaldo switching side to the left flank… Glen Johnson was obviously more vulnerable in defence compared to Ashley Cole, and Chelsea soon got into trouble.
After an easy Far East tour… United finally faced some stern test in their pre-season friendly against Italian champions Inter Milan, as some poor defense saw United defeated at home.
A massive crowd of 73,738 - a record friendly attendance at Old Trafford - were treated to a highly entertaining 90 minutes between the champions of England and Italy.
Wayne Rooney opened the scoreline before Inter replied with 3 goals before half time, thanks to a brace from David Suazo and a neat finish from Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Ronaldo’s freekick managed to force and own goal from Adriano in the 2nd half, but Inter managed to hold on to the lead and claimed victory.