01 Dec 2008, 02:16PM GMT
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has come to the defence of winger Cristiano Ronaldo after he was sent off in the 150th derby at the weekend for a deliberate handball.
Referee Howard Webb gave the 23-year-old his second yellow card of the match when he bizarrely used his hand to steer the ball away from him off a Wayne Rooney corner.
Having watched the replays, however, Ferguson claimed Ronaldo was shielding himself, and ultimately used his hands because he thought he had heard the referee's whistle.
"I've seen it again and he was trying to protect himself from the ball hitting his face," he said. "He may have got a little shove as well."
"He thought he'd heard the referee's whistle. But I'm not going to get into the refereeing, we'd be here all day. Sometimes you have to overcome things and we've done that. With 10 men we proved ourselves."
With a less favourable view of Ronaldo's performance, Manchester City manager Mark Hughes said: "I don't know what reason Ronaldo will give for handling the ball, but if it was going to hit him in the face, why didn't he head it?"
Red cards and phantom whistles aside, Ferguson was proud of the 10 men who held on for the 1-0 win - Rooney in particular after he scored his 100th career goal.
"We soaked up the pressure but handled it very well," he said. "We're behind Liverpool and Chelsea and we need to win the big games. It was a significant result for us today."
"These tap-ins count. Andy Cole was a specialist at it because he always anticipated - and Wayne anticipated well. It's a marvellous effort - he's only a young lad. His work rate today was phenomenal - it was from everyone."
In a lucky turn of fate for United, Ronaldo will only be unavailable for their Carling Cup quarter-final match against Blackburn in midweek - a match he may very well have sat out to rest anyway.
Having watched the replays, however, Ferguson claimed Ronaldo was shielding himself, and ultimately used his hands because he thought he had heard the referee's whistle.
"I've seen it again and he was trying to protect himself from the ball hitting his face," he said. "He may have got a little shove as well."
"He thought he'd heard the referee's whistle. But I'm not going to get into the refereeing, we'd be here all day. Sometimes you have to overcome things and we've done that. With 10 men we proved ourselves."
With a less favourable view of Ronaldo's performance, Manchester City manager Mark Hughes said: "I don't know what reason Ronaldo will give for handling the ball, but if it was going to hit him in the face, why didn't he head it?"
Red cards and phantom whistles aside, Ferguson was proud of the 10 men who held on for the 1-0 win - Rooney in particular after he scored his 100th career goal.
"We soaked up the pressure but handled it very well," he said. "We're behind Liverpool and Chelsea and we need to win the big games. It was a significant result for us today."
"These tap-ins count. Andy Cole was a specialist at it because he always anticipated - and Wayne anticipated well. It's a marvellous effort - he's only a young lad. His work rate today was phenomenal - it was from everyone."
In a lucky turn of fate for United, Ronaldo will only be unavailable for their Carling Cup quarter-final match against Blackburn in midweek - a match he may very well have sat out to rest anyway.
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