Angry Ronaldo: ‘This is not a red card here or in anywhere in the world’

January 25, 2010

On Sunday, Cristiano Ronaldo guided Real Madrid to a victory over Malaga. But the Portuguese star won’t look back in joy.

Ronaldo was shown a straight red card in the 70th minute of the match after his swinging elbow caught Malaga defender Patrick Mtiliga in the face.

The former Manchester United winger has insisted that he did not mean to hurt his opponent and Real Madrid will appeal against the booking.

“It was not my intention to injure Mtiliga,” Ronaldo said after the match. “I’m very sad for what happened but calm.

“This is not a red card here or in anywhere in the world.”

The Portugal international said that it wasn’t an intentional elbow. “I didn’t mean to injure the lad.

“It was bad luck to hit him on the nose because he’s only 1.70m and if he had been taller I would have struck his chest.”

The challenge left the Danish defender with a broken nose which will sideline him for a couple of weeks. After the match, Ronaldo visited Malaga’s locker room to apologise to Mtiliga.

“I’ve spoken with Mtiliga and he told me that I didn’t need to apologise because he doesn’t believe I hurt him intentionally and he’s right about that,” Ronaldo added.

“Those who understand football know that my intention is always to play the ball.

“I wouldn’t want to injure anybody. I’m not that type of person. I’m not a bad person. I only want to shine by playing football.

“Now I’m going to be angry when I get home because I won’t be able to play through suspension.”

Ronaldo, as a minimum, will now sit at next week’s trip to fifth-placed Deportivo La Coruna and might be banned for a longer period.

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