The Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, has suggested that Cristiano Ronaldo would be fouled less often if he were less "arrogant". Sir Alex Ferguson has claimed that opponents resort to manhandling the Manchester United winger when they can find no other way to thwart him and criticised Newcastle's Steven Taylor for striking the Portuguese on Wednesday night, for which the FA yesterday said the defender would not face disciplinary action.
While Wenger expressed support for Ferguson's view, he also claimed that the player invites hostility and that, moreover, United are sometimes treated too gently by referees. "With Manchester United I'm a bit cautious because sometimes I feel they get too much protection and sometimes they don't get enough," said Wenger. "Ronaldo is a specific example of that. Sometimes his arrogance is provocative, and his class as well."
Irked that Taylor escaped a red card when he caught Ronaldo with a flailing arm during United's 2–1 win at St James' Park, Ferguson said he was being victimised by officials.
"Ronaldo is an easy target for referees," he told MUTV. "It's easy to give decisions against him because he is such a great player and he is so celebrated. When he is away from home the crowd boos him, so he has to handle that. But it is not helping him."
If Ferguson felt aggrieved, Taylor was both relieved and riled yesterday. Although lucky to escape a suspension for that challenge on Ronaldo, the England Under-21 international was irritated by suggestions he had rowed with the same adversary in the tunnel at half-time.
It was reported that the world player of the year had called Taylor "rubbish" and the Newcastle right-back had retorted by dubbing Ronaldo "ugly." It has subsequently emerged that the pair were not involved in any such exchange. In his report to the FA, the referee, Steve Bennett, wrote that the fourth official had been in the tunnel at the time and said that "nothing happened".
Taylor also added: "There was no bust-up with Ronaldo – he was nowhere near me. I have no problem with Cristiano and I shook hands with him at the end."
Minutes before the teams headed down Newcastle's narrow tunnel at half-time, Taylor had caught Ronaldo in the neck area with a raised arm before proceeding to lunge in on Michael Carrick and subsequently receive a booking.
In his report, Bennett admitted that he had not seen the challenge on Ronaldo and booked Taylor solely for the tackle on Carrick. However, after reviewing video evidence of the initial incident, he said that he would merely have yellow-carded Taylor for fouling the Portuguese.
If Bennett had claimed he would have shown the defender a straight red card, Taylor's offence could have been upgraded to a sending-off and he would have been suspended.
Yet while the two bookings he would have received had Bennett spotted both infringements would have amounted to a dismissal, Fifa regulations state that no retrospective action can be taken in situations where referees failed to spot yellow rather than red card offences. Indeed they specify that, in such circumstances, yellow cards can never be upgraded or added to other misdemeanours.
