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.
[Manutd]