Nick Pope hits back at Manchester United and Cristiano Ronaldo complaints over disallowed goal

Nick Pope insists referee Craig Pawson was right to disallow Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal in Manchester United’s goalless draw with Newcastle United on Sunday.

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Ronaldo felt he opened the scoring in the second half after Fabian Schar touched the ball back to Pope to take a free kick. But before the Newcastle goalkeeper struck the ball, Ronaldo nipped in and dribbled the ball a few yards before finishing into an empty net.

Pawson immediately ruled out Ronaldo’s effort, despite huge protests from United’s players, while the 37-year-old was also given a yellow card.

‘The free-kick was slightly in the wrong place and obviously Fabby’s [Schar] rolled it back to me and walked off,’ Pope told Chronicle Live.

‘I think you know by everyone’s body language that you know he’s not meaning to take a free-kick.

‘I think the referee sorted it out quickly and fair play to him for making the right decision and squashed it straight away.’

When asked about Ronaldo’s goal controversy, Erik ten Hag said: ‘I don’t have a comment, everyone has seen it.

‘I shared that with them [the officials]. Everyone has seen what happened today on the pitch.’

Giving his verdict on Ronaldo’s attempt, Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said: ‘I could see it at the time, and for me it was clear Fabi [Schar] wasn’t taking the kick. He was allowing Nick to do it.

‘I don’t know if the ref had blown his whistle, but I don’t think he had to restart play. For me, it was clear that Nick was waiting to actually deliver the free-kick and then, obviously, Ronaldo had taken the ball off him. It would have been a very, very difficult goal to swallow if it had stood. For me it was clear the ball it wasn’t in play.’

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