England’s stars have come out in support of Wayne Rooney after he was sent off in the World Cup quarter-final defeat against Portugal.
The 20-year-old saw red for stamping on Portugal defender Ricardo Carvalho as England went out on penalties.
But team-mate Steven Gerrard said to the Sun:
“Wayne Rooney won’t get any blame from me because I love him and he’s done so much for this team. He’s also going to do so much for England in the future as well.”
Gerrard was unhappy with the reaction of Rooney’s Manchester United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo rushed to referee Horacio Elizondo demanding punishment for Rooney.
Gerrard said: “I saw that, and if it was one of my team-mates I’d be absolutely disgusted in him. I’ve seen Ronaldo going over giving the card and I think he’s bang out of order. If I was playing against my team-mates from Liverpool and they were involved in a situation like that, I’d never try and get them sent off.”
Fifa is to investigate Rooney for violent conduct, and Ronaldo has denied he tried to get him dismissed.
“I only said to the referee that it was a foul, only that. I never asked for the red card,” said the winger.
But England defender John Terry added to the chorus of support for Rooney and the condemnation of the Portugal player.
He said: “Wayne should have had the free-kick 15 or 20 seconds before anything like that happened. Wayne was devastated, we went in the dressing room and his head was down to the floor there.”
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