Tuesday Jul 04 2006 09:05
The referee who sent England striker Wayne Rooney off in the World Cup quarter-final defeat to Portugal has cleared Cristiano Ronaldo of any blame for his part in the incident.
Rooney was shown a red card for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho but then shoved Ronaldo when the Portugal winger came to remonstrate with the referee.
Argentine referee Horacio Elizondo only seemed to reach for the red card after Ronaldo's intervention, but the official insists that was not the case.
"It was violent play and therefore he got a red card," Elizondo told The Times. "People can say what they want, but this (Ronaldo's intervention) had absolutely no influence.
"In general, I don't pay much attention to that sort of thing because I don't care about the pressure on my shoulders during a match.
"For me, it was a clear red card, so I didn't react to the Portuguese players.
"There was pushing and shoving on both sides, but for me it wasn't a reason to caution anybody.
"Sven-Goran Eriksson went to the locker-room after the match and congratulated me for an excellent performance and said that I was right to send off Rooney because it was rough play."
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