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.’