Rooney: I'm the victim
DUNCAN CASTLES reports from Marienfeld, Daily Mail
4th July 2006
Wayne Rooney insisted last night that his stamp on Portugal's Ricardo Carvalho in Saturday's World Cup quarter-final was entirely accidental.
Rooney, commenting for the first time since the red card that ended his and England's tournament, issued a statement saying he had always played the game fairly and that only a loss of balance caused his left boot to land in Carvalho's groin.
He said: 'I'm bitterly disappointed to have been sent off in a World Cup finals match for England.'
Referee Horacio Elizondo (needless to say - an Argentinian) confirmed that he dismissed the Manchester United striker for stamping rather than pushing Cristiano Ronaldo.
But Rooney said: 'I remember the incident clearly and have seen it several times since on TV. I am of the same opinion now as I was at the time: that what happened didn't warrant a red card.
'If anything, I feel we should have had a free-kick for the fouls committed on me during the same incident. I want to say absolutely categorically that I did not intentionally put my foot down on Ricardo Carvalho. He slid in from behind me and unfortunately ended up in a position where my foot was inevitably going to end up as I kept my balance. That's all there was to it.
'If you ask any player — and indeed almost any fan — they will tell you I am straight and honest in the way I play.
From what I've seen in the World Cup, most players would have gone to ground at the slightest contact but my only thought then was to keep possession for England.'
Rooney is believed to have been encouraged to set the record straight by his club manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
And in his statement he also denied reports that he had vowed to 'split Cristiano Ronaldo in two' for his Manchester United team-mate's attempts to encourage the referee to send him off.
He said: 'When the referee produced the red card I was amazed — gobsmacked. I bear no ill feeling to Cristiano but I am disappointed he chose to get involved.
'I suppose I do, though, have to remember on that particular occasion we were not team-mates.'
'I'm not a referee with the power to send off anyone. Nor do I have the moral authority to convince him to show cards'
Elizondo denied that he had been influenced by Ronaldo.
He said: '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.
'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.
'People can say what they want, but this had absolutely no influence. It was violent play and therefore Rooney got a red card.'
Elizondo added: 'In general I am very satisfied with the spirit of fair play in the match. Sven Goran Eriksson went to the locker room after the match and congratulated me for an excellent performance and said I was right to send off Rooney because it was rough play.'
He rejected claims that he failed to book several Portuguese players for diving. 'I only give yellow cards for clear diving and I don't think there was any.'
Earlier yesterday, Ronaldo had issued a statement of his own, responding to a barrage of criticism of his supposed gamesmanship and insisting that his relationship with Rooney remained strong.
'Barbaric things were said about me and my team-mate and friend Rooney,' wrote Ronaldo on his agent's website. 'How is it possible to say that I helped send him off? I'm not a referee with the power to send off anyone. Nor do I have the moral authority to convince him to show cards.
'The referee showed him the red card because he thought he should do it and my part in that was zero.
'I also want to make it clear that between me and Rooney there is absolutely no problem. At the end of the game we exchanged many text messages and during Sunday, too.
'This is to reinforce that I have an excellent relationship with Rooney. Between us everything is clear. He not only congratulated me for going on in the World Cup, he told me we had a great team and for us to continue like this because we would go far.'
Whether Ronaldo continues as Rooney's team-mate at United remains open to question. He had discussed moving to Real Madrid as the headline signing of presidential candidate Juan Miguel Villar Mir.
But Mir's disputed election defeat by 55-year-old lawyer Ramon Calderon may block that route.
Calderon has promised to honour his election pledges by bringing Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas, Chelsea's Arjen Robben and AC Milan's Brazilian midfielder Kaka to the Bernabeu this summer.
Calderon was proclaimed president after claiming a narrow victory in a chaotic election campaign that saw the former club director emerge with a winning margin of just 246 over second-placed candidate Juan Palacios.
dailymail.co.uk
