Tottenham defender Young-Pyo Lee accused Cristiano Ronaldo of diving to win the penalty that set Manchester United on course for their 4-0 victory at White Hart Lane.
Lee was close to Ronaldo as he stumbled after a challenge by Steed Malbranque late in the first half on Sunday and the South Korean left-back is adamant there was no contact, with television replays supporting his claim.
Ronaldo has been regularly criticised for going to ground too easily when he is tackled and Lee was furious with the way he exaggerated his fall.
The Portuguese winger converted the 45th minute spot-kick himself and United went on to thrash Tottenham with further goals from Nemanja Vidic, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.
Lee said: ”Me and Steed didn’t touch him. I think he dived. I don’t know why he fell, it’s a great pity.
”All the Tottenham players were angry and I can’t understand why some players do something like that.
”I am very disappointed with this defeat. This game was very important to us because we wanted to get back into the top 10.
”If we’d won this match we’d have gone up to seventh or eighth but it was very difficult. We have many matches left in the season and I hope we can still finish very well.
”It’s important we bounce back against Sheffield United next week, it’s a vital away match. We will try to do our best and if we do, we can achieve a good result.
”We will keep going and look forward. We have a very good squad and are still in two cup competitions so there is still a lot for the fans to be positive about.”
Meanwhile, Michael Carrick insists United will not be affected by the pressure of leading the race for Premiership.
United showed no sign of nerves as they restored their six-point advantage over second-placed Chelsea with their 4-0 win, just 24 hours after Jose Mourinho’s side had cut the gap with a victory against Charlton.
For the last two seasons, United have tried and failed to overhaul Chelsea after making slow starts, but now the destiny of the title is in their hands.
United midfielder Carrick believes being in pole position means his teammates can just concentrate on winning their own games and not worry about Chelsea.
”We didn’t feel any pressure after Chelsea had closed the gap on Saturday,” he said. ”It’s up to us what we do and we know if we win the right amount of games we will win the league.
”We are not looking over our shoulder and worrying about Chelsea. I think we showed that we are good enough to go away from home when the pressure is on and get the result.
”I don’t know if we’ve sent Chelsea a message. I know they lost here earlier in the season and we won 4-0, which is a very good result.
”Chelsea have played well in big games and I think there will still be plenty of twists and turns.”
Although Carrick admits Chelsea will be a tougher proposition after the return to fitness of John Terry and Petr Cech, the England international sees no reason to be concerned.
He said: ”Chelsea’s challenge was always going to be strong, but it could be stronger now they have Terry and Cech back in the side, but it’s not something we focus on.
”We’re in a good position, we’ve earned that and we don’t want to let it slip. It’s up to us to get a good result every week.” — Sapa-AFP