Fergie wants refs to protect Ronaldo

MANCHESTER, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has called for greater protection from referees to prevent Cristiano Ronaldo from sustaining serious injury.


The Portuguese winger was sent off for violent conduct at Portsmouth on Wednesday and while Ferguson had no quibbles about the red card, he believes his player was provoked by a series of heavy challenges that went unpunished by referee Steve Bennett.

'My fear is, and I don't whether there is a directive, but maybe referees are a bit more tolerant of the physical contact,' Ferguson told reporters on Friday.

'I've noticed this in the last few months -- late challenges are going unpunished. I thought these things were black and white. Late challenges are not allowed.

'We saw it again on Wednesday night, the referee letting it go unpunished time and time again. If you have got weak referees then you are going to be suffering.'

Ferguson added: 'There is a concern players like Ronaldo are going to be the victims... because it will end up with someone getting a serious injury.'

The fiery Scot had every sympathy with Ronaldo, who was dismissed for an apparent headbutt in the closing stages of the 1-1 draw.

'It's very difficult to completely punish Ronaldo or be angry with him,' Ferguson said. 'Some of the things that are happening to him are not right.'

Ronaldo will miss Sunday's derby at Manchester City through suspension and the champions with be further weakened in attack without injured pair Wayne Rooney and Louis Saha.

Ferguson was impressed with Carlos Tevez's debut at Portsmouth and could partner him with Ryan Giggs as United look for their first win of the season.

After opening with two draws they already trail Chelsea and Manchester City, who have taken maximum points under new manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, by four points.

'We are dropping points and that's frustrating because the performance levels were very good,' Ferguson added. 'The important thing is just to be patient now.

'The players will come right. It's frustrating, but it's recoverable of course.'

Aston Villa 1 Liverpool 2

A superb free-kick from Steven Gerrard handed Liverpool a 2-1 win at Aston Villa.



Villa looked to have rescued a point when skipper Gareth Barry cancelled out Martin Laursen's first-half own goal with an 86th-minute penalty. But then Gerrard curled a 20-yard shot past the dive of Stuart Taylor barely 60 seconds later, after he had been brought down by Stiliyan Petrov. Overall Liverpool were worthy winners with record signing Fernando Torres making a satisfactory debut despite spurning a golden first half opportunity. The £20.2million capture from Atletico Madrid linked up effectively with Dirk Kuyt before being taken off with 11 minutes remaining.

But man of the match yet again was England midfielder Gerrard who exerted so much influence over proceedings even before his goal while Jamie Carragher excelled at the heart of the Reds defence. Villa huffed and puffed with Barry outstanding in midfield but they seldom tested Jose Reina until he turned over an injury-time John Carew header.

They made a bright start in front of a capacity 43,000 crowd and Reina had to be alert to deal with a stinging 30-yard volley from makeshift Villa right-back Craig Gardner. Carragher showed his class and awareness to block a shot from John Carew at the expense of a corner after he had been played in by Gardner. But Liverpool gradually took command and Torres had his first half-chance after 17 minutes when he blazed over the bar from a narrow angle following a long clearance by Reina.