ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE:THE GREATEST sin committed by Cristiano Ronaldo yesterday was to hand Manchester City an opportunity to mock their dominant neighbours. It was more than Mark Hughes's team deserved.
Alex Ferguson claimed the Manchester United winger was attempting to protect his face when he handled Wayne Rooney's corner and received a red card at the City of Manchester Stadium.
"If the ball was going to hit him in the face, why didn't he just head it?" asked Hughes, his rapid reaction and penetrating question in stark contrast to the performance of his team.
Hughes, like any manager in need of a distraction, did not allow Ferguson's plethora of excuses for Ronaldo's indiscretion go to waste after a dispiriting derby defeat for City. The third red card of the Portuguese's United career gave City a numerical advantage they could not take advantage of but a diversionary tactic their manager did.
Ferguson preferred to keep the spotlight fixed on a display that should diminish any insecurity United have developed on their travels this season.
"He was trying to protect himself from the ball hitting his face; he may have got a little shove as well," said the United manager.
He then offered a third possible reason as to why Ronaldo, already booked for a foul on Shaun Wright-Phillips, punched the ball as Dimitar Berbatov and Micah Richards wrestled for Rooney's corner.
"He thought he'd heard the referee's whistle," said Ferguson. "But I'm not going to get into the refereeing, we'd be here all day. Sometimes you have to overcome things and we have done that today - with 10 men we proved ourselves."
Ferguson was justified in accentuating the positives of an assured performance, although whether he would have adopted the same line had Richard Dunne equalised at the death is another matter entirely. United's defence of Ronaldo, however, was undermined by every weak excuse voiced.
Rio Ferdinand claimed there had been a push; Ronaldo pointed to the injured Richards lying on the floor and also claimed to have heard, mid-leap and with the ball sailing towards his forehead, a whistle for a foul that had yet to materialise. It was an argument he is said to have repeated as he watched the incident on television monitors inside the tunnel.
"I heard a beep," he is reported to have said. Television replays, whether in slow-motion, real-time, from behind the goal or tracking Ronaldo's run, confirmed the winger had merely taken leave of his senses.
"I don't think the referee had any choice," said Hughes. "I don't know what excuse they'll give for that. It was a soft sending off, but a second yellow card and so he had to go."
As Ferguson vented his spleen at the fourth official and his players raged at Webb over the supposed injustice, their energies would have been better spent on questions to their number seven. So often the saviour, he was almost a liability here and it was in spite of his contribution that the champions reclaimed civic pride (after two defeats to City last season) and, more importantly, secured their finest away win of the season so far, with 10 men.
"In the first half we were magnificent. We dominated the match," said Ferguson. "For 10 minutes at the start of the second they stepped up their game, but they were not a threat. We had to play the last 20-odd minutes with 10 men. We soaked up some pressure but we handled it very well."
Painting Ronaldo as the victim again is a mistake, however. Barring a hitch in the voting system he should be announced as the European player of the year today and collect the Ballon D'Or tomorrow, but his claims to greatness will never be indisputable while he considers himself above the law and a victim of it.
The only target yesterday for "systematic fouling", the term Ferguson used to describe opponents' treatment of Ronaldo at Villarreal last week, was Wright-Phillips. Ronaldo, whether pushed, hearing things or worried about his looks, had no excuse.
• Guardian Service
