MANCHESTER, England: Cristiano Ronaldo claimed that poor refereeing standards in English football have left him "scared" to play his natural game after a controversial performance by referee Martin Atkinson contributed to Manchester United's shock 1-0 FA Cup exit at the hands of Portsmouth.
Sulley Muntari's 77th-minute penalty at Old Trafford on Saturday, which led to the dismissal of United goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak, was enough to send Harry Redknapp's team into the semifinals for the first time in 16 years.
But Atkinson's failure to award United a first-half penalty following Sylvain Distin's foul on Ronaldo left the Portuguese winger furious, especially after he had earlier been on the receiving end of a crude challenge by Lassana Diarra that also went unpunished.
And the 23-year-old, continually linked with moves to Real Madrid and Barcelona, insisted that a failure by English referees to protect skillful players had left him questioning his approach to the game, raising question marks over his willingness to remain in the Premiership.
Ronaldo said: "Sometimes I say that this is the best league in the world, but sometimes they don't protect the skillful players.
"After what happened to the Arsenal player (Eduardo da Silva), I am scared to do my skills.
"The referee against Portsmouth was unbelievable. In the first five minutes, there were three fouls and he took no action and then he failed to give a penalty. It's difficult to play like this.
"Sometimes they just protect the defenders and I am thinking about having to change my game because it is difficult to play like that.
"Diarra did not even try to play the ball when he tackled me and he wasn't even booked. It's a joke. So often, there were fouls and the referee did nothing."
Atkinson, one of the more inexperienced officials on the Premier League list, was also singled out for criticism by Ferguson, but the United boss reserved his strongest tirade for referees' supremo Keith Hackett, the man charged with appointing officials to games.
Ferguson said: "Keith Hackett has got a lot to answer for because he is not doing his job properly.
"He has to be assessed. I am assessed as a manager, the players are assessed and the referees should be assessed.
"That kind of performance (by the referee) should not be accepted. The standards are not good enough, but they are much better in Europe.
"It's so ridiculous that it was not given as a penalty. I can't explain it, but managers can get sacked as a result of things like that."
Source: China Daily/Agencies
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