I DIDN'T DO NUFFINK

Wayne Rooney yesterday insisted his dismissal in Saturday's World Cup quarter-final had been unjust and claimed that, despite evidence to the contrary, he bore Cristiano Ronaldo no ill-will.

Ronaldo was the first to offer an olive branch, conscious no doubt that with the Real Madrid presidential election not going as his advisers had predicted a transfer from Old Trafford is by no means certain.

"There is no problem at all between me and Rooney. At the end of the game we exchanged a series of text messages just as we had on the day before. This reinforces that I have a fine relationship with Rooney. Between the two of us everything is clear."

Rooney's response indicated that his view of the incident is not that straight- forward. Rooney believes Ronaldo's involvement contributed to his dismissal, although diplomacy and club loyalty prevented him from being quite so specific.

"I remember the incident clearly and have seen it several times since on TV. I am of the same opinion now as I was at the time, that what happened didn't warrant a red card. If anything I feel we should have had a free-kick for the fouls committed on me during the same incident.

"I want to say absolutely categorically I did not intentionally put my foot down on Ricardo Carvalho. He slid in from behind me and unfortunately ended up in a position where my foot was inevitably going to end up as I kept my balance. That's all there was to it. From what I've seen in the World Cup, most players would have gone to ground at the slightest contact but my only thought then was to keep possession for England.

"When the referee produced the red card I was amazed, gobsmacked. I bear no ill feeling to Cristiano [Ronaldo] but I am disappointed he chose to get involved. I suppose I do, though, have to remember on that particular occasion we were not team-mates."

Ronaldo addressed rumours that Rooney wouldn't play with him again:

"That's not what he wants. Of course he wants to play with me. This is false, he said so himself.

"In fact, he didn't just send me congratulations for going forward in the World Cup, he also told me we have a great team, and if we carry on as we have, we will get a long way.

"He wasn't angry with me, or about anything that happened.''