Cristiano Ronaldo won the treble at United’s end of season awards, just hours after the Reds wrapped up the Barclays Premier League title with a thrilling win at Wigan.
Victory at the JJB Stadium made for an electric atmosphere at the Old Trafford party, where individual players at senior, reserve and academy level were rewarded for their efforts.
Ronaldo retained the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year gongs - and added the Goal of the Season award to his collection.
The Portuguese winger actually occupied the top two spots in the Goal of the Season award, taking first place with his stunning free kick against Portsmouth and second for his impudent backheel against Aston Villa.
The treble completes a remarkable campaign for Ronaldo, who earlier this month retained the PFA and Football Writers’ Player of the Season awards for his exertions.
[Manutd]
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]
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 was sent off in United’s EPL match against Portsmouth, which ended in a 1-1 draw at Fratton Park.
2 draws in a row for Manchester United… the season is still early, but it’s not spelling good for the Red Devils.
To make thing worse, Ronaldo’s headbutt and the red card means that he is going to miss the next match for sure, and is almost certain that he will miss another 2 more matches after FA revealing the incident.
With Wayne Rooney (and a few others) already out of injury, Ronaldo’s suspension is going to cause some real headache for United manager Alex Ferguson.
This is the red-card incident video, not very clear though…