I Didn’t Say That Roma Players ‘Begged For Mercy’

Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo has denied ever saying that Roma players begged him for mercy during last season’s meeting in the Champions League.

In the build-up to Tuesday’s re-match between Man Utd and Roma, the press printed extracts from Ronaldo’s book, which supposedly said that some Roma players pleaded with the winger not to “do any more dribbles”.

However Ronaldo has rubbished these reports and says that everything has been misinterpreted.

“Read my book and you will see on page 112 exactly what happened,” he stressed. “A Roma player did ask me to stop dribbling, but obviously he was joking just like some English players do when they ask me to switch to the other side of the pitch.

“Roma played well and had some good chances and we aren’t the side we were in April. But we are improving and we will be better at the Olimpico in December.”

Ronaldo also accepted that the elbow he received off Roma striker Mirko Vucinic, which caused him to require stitches for a facial wound, was not deliberate.

“It wasn’t an intentional foul,” Ronaldo said. “It was just one of those things that happen during a game.

“I don’t like black eyes, but Vucinic didn’t do it on purpose and these things happen in football.”

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