Ryan Giggs has joined Alex Ferguson in coming to the defence of Cristiano Ronaldo as the footballer of the year attempts to persuade the rest of the English game that he does not deserve his reputation as a serial diver.

Ronaldo's fondness for looking for free-kicks earlier in his career almost certainly contributed to the referee Rob Styles denying him a penalty in Manchester United's 2-0 defeat of Fulham on Monday and Giggs, like Ferguson, feels his team-mate is being treated unfairly by match officials.

Ferguson said it was "unbelievable" that Styles brandished a yellow card after Ronaldo seemed to have been brought down by Fulham's goalkeeper, Antti Niemi, and Giggs spoke of the feeling at Old Trafford that he is paying because of his past mistakes. Ronaldo, famously branded a "cheat" by Gareth Southgate, may have nobody but himself to blame for that, but the official line from United is that he has eradicated diving from his game and should be treated the same as everyone else.

"I think Ronnie had that reputation when he first came here, but that's gone now," said Giggs. "It was hard for the referee because it happened so quickly, but because Ronnie was running so fast the referee has had to make a split-second decision. I think because there was no obvious contact, he didn't give a penalty - but all Ronnie did was try to avoid the 'keeper, so in my view that cannot be seen as simulation."

Giggs was the next closest player and he was convinced Ronaldo had legitimate reasons for going down. "Niemi has tried to stop Ronnie and his arm has followed his leg, so everyone thought it was a penalty," he said. "I think when the referee sees it again he will realise he has made a mistake. But you'd have to ask the referee about that."

Ronaldo could conceivably have been sent off for dissent after sarcastically applauding Styles' decision to book him, but since the end of the game the player has chosen to handle the situation with dignity. Yesterday he refused to criticise Styles, even though the decision deprived him of the chance to score the first hat-trick of his United career.

"I don't want to speak too much about the penalty incident," he said. "All I will say is that I always try to play in an honest way. It's frustrating because he gave me a yellow card, but football is like that- the referee makes a mistake, the players sometimes make mistakes. I don't think the ref did a good job on this occasion, but I have to respect his decision."