Cristiano Ronaldo WILL NOT miss out on emotional return to Manchester United
Cristiano Ronaldo will be allowed to face Manchester United at Old Trafford, despite his red card for Juventus at Valencia.
The former Red was given his marching orders for appearing to pull defender Jeison Murillo’s hair in an off the ball incident.
That means Ronaldo is banned for one game – Juve’s clash with Young Boys – but there was a fear that the ban could be extended to two or three games due to the time it took the 33-year-old to leave the pitch and for his protests.
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UEFA’s control, ethics and disciplinary panel will meet next Thursday to review the incident, which was one of the main talking points after the opening set of Champions League fixtures.
According to The Mirror, the panel have already seen the TV footage of the incident and despite protests after the red card was brandished, they do not believe his actions are worthy of an extended ban.
If they had deemed otherwise, Ronaldo would have missed his return to Old Trafford in late October and potentially the game in Italy too.
The red card was controversial, with Juve chief Massimo Allegri claiming VAR would have seen the decision overturned.
“I can only say that VAR would have helped the referee make the right decision,” Allegri said after the game.
“Mostly because it was the 29th minute in the first half in a difficult game, to find yourselves with 10 men for a red card, that was not right.”
And that was a viewpoint endorsed by former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg, who believes the assistant referee stationed behind the goal got the decision wrong.
“Cristiano Ronaldo was very unfortunate to be sent off on his Champions League debut for Juventus,” he said.
“Referee Felix Brych had his back to the incident. It was spotted by the additional assistant, standing behind the goal, who may have thought Ronaldo threw an elbow but that was not the case.
“Ronaldo was then clearly annoyed by Murillo’s play-acting and placed a hand on the defender’s head. The contact looked very slight and I cannot see how the additional assistant, standing some 20 yards away, could deem it violent conduct.
“If I had been officiating this game, I would have given Valencia a free-kick and shown a yellow card to each player.”