Debate: did Ronaldo deserve to be sent off?

Daftness does not exclude you from winning the Ballon D’Or, which is just as well for Cristiano Ronaldo. In fairness, it would take half-a-dozen red cards rather than one silly dismissal to require a late recount for the European Footballer of the Year trophy, but it should be a slightly sheepish Portuguese who follows in the footsteps of Platini, Van Basten and Zidane in the next 24 hours.

There were 22 minutes left of yesterday’s Manchester derby when Ronaldo invited his second caution by jumping up to meet an attacking corner before intentionally palming the ball away with his hands. As it transpired, United could have won with nine men — and arguably did so given Dimitar Berbatov’s sporadic interest. But, as he disengaged his brain, Ronaldo was not to know that.

It was his fourth dismissal in United colours, his second at the City of Manchester Stadium, which at least suggests that he takes the cross-town rivalry as seriously as can be expected from a lad from Madeira.

A lunge at Andrew Cole brought a red card here in January 2006 in a 3-1 defeat and Ruud van Nistelrooy gave him such a hard time for it that the pair almost came to blows a few days later on the training ground. There will be no such ramifications after yesterday’s dismissal, least of all from Sir Alex Ferguson, who sided with his player as he came off and again later when discussing the incident.

The United manager mentioned a phantom push in Ronaldo’s back and then suggested that the player was protecting the ball from striking him in the face. “Then why didn’t he head it?” Mark Hughes, the City manager, asked, quite reasonably. Ronaldo insisted that he had reacted instinctively to the parp of a whistle — “I heard a beep,” he said as he walked slowly off — but no one else had. The bottom line was that Howard Webb, the referee, had no choice but to show a second yellow card and sympathy for the player should also be tempered by his behaviour for the first booking.

Rightly cautioned for tripping Shaun Wright-Phillips, Ronaldo clapped Webb sarcastically. There was a smile on his face as he did so, rather than a Wayne Rooney snarl, but he was pushing his luck.

In a spirited defence of the player, Ferguson had argued over the weekend that Ronaldo is infinitely more sinned against than sinning and, after this forgettable afternoon, confirmation of the Ballon D’Or this evening will be timely in reminding us of the forward’s brilliance. A season that began belatedly because of injury has yet to show Ronaldo at his very best and the emphasis of United’s attack has shifted since Berbatov sauntered into the team. But anyone who quibbles with Ronaldo’s award, at the age of 23, is not examining the mountain of supporting evidence with an open mind.

His 2007-08 campaign was astonishing, 42 goals in all competitions making him the headline act in a team that landed the Barclays Premier League title as well as the Champions League. Ronaldo was top scorer in both competitions and that is before we get on to the assists, the stepovers, the skipping runs, the defence-splitting passes.</p>

Ronaldo was not at his best yesterday, but United were so dominant that he did not need to be. No one was better than Michael Carrick, who has taken on real authority now he is an English and European champion. He will surely be making Gareth Barry fear for his England place.

Carrick showed a willingness to do what it takes to win, including a late trip of Wright-Phillips, for which he was happy to pick up a caution. It was a cynical intervention but at least it was explicable. The same could not be said for Ronaldo.