Cristiano Ronaldo feels he is not given enough protection from referees and fears suffering a serious injury.
The winger was denied a clear penalty against Portsmouth in the FA Cup quarter final defeat at Old Trafford. That incident, coupled with persistent fouling throughout the game, highlights an oft-felt view that the Portuguese is not protected by referees.
“It’s very frustrating, the referee was unbelievable,” he told MUTV. “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.”
[Mufc]
Both Rooney and Ronaldo scored a double to give Manchester United a 5-1 win against Newcastle at St James Park.
It was a good team performance from the Red Devils, but Newcastle really made MU’s victory a lot easier with their sloppy play. They seemed to lack confidence with the ball and made way too much mistakes. In fact, 3 out of the 5 goals could be prevented if they could show just a bit more steadiness when defending or when holding the ball.
It was a great game from Ronaldo though. He did well to assist Rooney with the game opener on 25th minute before bagging a goal on each half himself (45th and 56th minute), before Abdoulaye Faye crawled one back for United on 79th minute.
Rooney installed the lead just a minute later with his second on 80th minute. Saha then completed Newcastle’s misery in injury time.
The win closed the gap between the title racers, as Arsenal could only managed a draw against Birmingham in an earlier match. Manchester United are currently 3 points behind the Gunners.
According to Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor, his main rival for the Golden Boot has skills you would normally only see on a computer game.
Cristiano Ronaldo set English football alight last season, winning both Player of the Year prizes and scoring 17 goals in 34 Premier League appearances. If anything he is scaling even dizzier heights this term with 19 goals in 20 League games.
Adebayor is neck-and-neck with Ronaldo at the top of the Premier League scoring charts and has the utmost respect for the Manchester United star. The Golden Boot is clearly not Adebayor’s priority but, if he is to win it, he knows he has to eclipse one of the world’s finest.
“He is a player I like to watch,” admitted Adebayor. “He has a lot of quality and watching him is like watching something else, it is like playing on the PlayStation sometimes.
“He is an amazing footballer and I show him a lot of respect for what he has done this season. There are not a lot of players, especially midfielders, who can achieve what he has achieved.”
[Arsenal]
Arsène Wenger has revealed how close he came to signing Cristiano Ronaldo and suggested with some mischief that the player himself ought to tell the story of how he almost chose Arsenal over Manchester United.
“I knew about him, yes,” said Wenger. “We were very close (to signing him). Manchester United had a partnership with Sporting Lisbon when (the assistant manager) Carlos Queiroz came in - that made the difference. One day I will tell you more about the story and you will be surprised. You will have to ask him (Ronaldo) how close it was. We had him here. He was here much earlier. He could tell you that if he wants.”
[Guardian]
Manchester United showed no mercy for their former captain Roy Keane as they crashed his side, Sunderland 4-0 at the Stadium of Light.
United started without some of their key players, but they proved too much to handle for the Black Cats. Sunderland started the game decently and had a few chances, but couldn’t threaten United’s keeper. Experience tells that it would mean deep trouble for Sunderland, as United would be ready to pounce on when they started to control the rhythm of the game.
The Red Devils didn’t need to wait long, as Wayne Rooney scored the opener on 20th minute from a wonderful pass by Wes Brown. Rooney then turned provider on 30th minute… his cross found Louis Saha and the French didn’t waste the chance to make it 2-0.
Cristiano Ronaldo then sealed the game for United just before the half time whistle to make it 3-0.
The game was still very much under United’s control at the 2nd half… Alex Ferguson even had the luxury to substitute Ronaldo on 59th minute with Park Ji-sung, who was playing his first competitive game of the season after his operation.
Louis Saha’s 86th minute penalty was very much icing on the cake. Manchester United claimed the top spot and would stay there for at least a few days as Arsenal had only managed a draw with Portsmouth in a later match.
Cristiano Ronaldo believes Manchester United will retain their Premier League title and win a third European Cup after a solid start to the season.
The Portuguese winger has scored six goals to help United to second in the domestic table and to win their opening three games in the Champions League.
And the 22-year-old said: “I believe we will win the Premier League and the Champions League this season.
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