259 In Trouble Part 2 (2/2)
When it came to speed, Ribéry was not at all afraid of Ronaldo. He sprang into action to try to kick the ball out from Ronaldo.
Ronaldo attempted another pass but Ribéry stretched his leg out to block it, sealing up Ronaldo's pass route. The price was the loss of his center of gravity.
The Portuguese man was waiting for exactly this moment. As he watched Ribéry leap to block his pass, he pivoted his ankle and changed the pass to a nudge that moved the ball to Ribéry's back.
He thought he had gotten Ribéry, but he was the one who had been deceived!
Although it appeared that Ribéry had thrown his entire weight forward and should not have been able to do anything to the ball behind him, he had left his leg dragging behind him. After the nudge by Ronaldo, the ball collided with Ribéry's leg and diverted from the planned route. Ronaldo could no longer maintain control of the ball under his foot.
Dammit!
Ronaldo watched Ribéry's leg and moved without any hint of hesitation. Changing directions, turning, breaking through… he then stuck his foot in and fell forwards, flopping right into the penalty area!
The referee's whistle shrieked loudly among the ear-splitting jeers and cheers ringing within the grounds of Old Trafford. He ran towards the penalty area with a finger pointing at the penalty spot.
”Penalty! Ronaldo tripped by Ribéry!”
When Ribéry heard the whistle, his first reaction was that Ronaldo must have made a dive. But when he turned back and saw the referee pointing towards the penalty spot, he sprang up from the ground and rushed towards him. Fortunately, Matthew Upson hastily blocked the rash man with his quick eyes and deft hands. Otherwise, they would have been lucky to get away with only a yellow card.
But not everyone was as calm as Upson was. Ashley Young ran before the referee and loudly questioned his call. He believed that Ronaldo was just faking the fall and should have been given a yellow card as well. But the result was a yellow card for himself.
Albertini herded the teammates who had come forward to ”reason” with the referee. A matter like appealing to the referee should be undertaken by the captain, himself. Even though he did not see clearly what happened, he figured from experience that Ronaldo had fallen somewhat too exaggeratedly.
The referee shook his head and stood by his judgment. He stood beside the penalty spot with his arm raised, signaling Manchester United to approach for their penalty kick.
Ronaldo and his teammates were in a group hug, celebrating the awarded penalty kick.
Meanwhile, Ribéry bit his lip furiously as he stared daggers at the delighted Ronaldo.
※※※
On the sidelines, Tang En was extremely dissatisfied with the penalty. He raged at the Fourth Official. ”First, it was a disregard for the Advantage Clause. Then, it's a ruling to award a penalty kick for a flop!”
”Mr. Twain, please calm down,” the Fourth official said unflinchingly, without a care for Tang En's flying spit.
”I am very calm!” Tang En knew that the result could not be changed, but he simply could not accept the fact that they were already behind Manchester United in the first half.
Boiling with anger, he spun around and walked back. He stood on the sidelines and watched as Nistelrooy kicked the penalty ball into the goal Darren Ward was guarding. Once again, resounding cheers rang through Old Trafford.
”Bastard!” he cursed quietly. He was exceptionally unhappy with the current situation. They were now two goals behind in an away match. Would Forest end up with two losses in a row?