Ronaldo: ´We knew something would happen´

Real Madrid attacker Cristiano Ronaldo has slammed referee Frank De Bleeckere for giving Barcelona ‘preferential treatment’ in their clash.

De Bleeckere ruled out a Gonzalo Higuain goal early in the second-half of the Champions League semi-final second leg, which ended 1-1 for a 3-1 aggregate win to Barcelona.

Ronaldo was deemed to have fouled Javier Mascherano in the build up to Higuain’s strike, with video replays showing Barca defender Gerard Pique making contact with the Portuguese star moments before he crashed into Mascherano’s legs.

De Bleeckere penalised Ronaldo for bringing down Mascherano, and Higuain’s goal was disallowed.

“The team is sad, but we knew it was an uphill battle,” Ronaldo said on Real’s official website.

“The name of the match is ‘Mission Impossible IV’. Once again, it was the referee that didn’t allow us to dictate the outcome. We knew we could beat Barca, but the referee didn’t let us.”

“Higuain’s goal was good. Pique pushed me and I landed on Mascherano. He didn’t used to fall to the ground in England, but he’s picked up the bad habit of doing it here like everyone else.”

Ronaldo echoed team-mate Xabi Alonso’s criticism of the red card handed to Pepe in the first leg of their semi-final at the Bernabeu, using the decision as proof UEFA referees guided Barcelona into the Wembley final.

“The referee in the first match took away our chances of playing the final. Whoever knows anything about football knows that Barcelona get preferential treatment. We knew something would happen. We knew that if we scored a goal that everything would be done to keep us from going through,” Ronaldo said.

“This isn’t good for football. We should just stay home and allow Barcelona to play alone if things don’t change. Barcelona have a lot of power off the pitch. We would have drawn 0-0 without the Alves incident (Pepe’s red card) and tonight’s draw would have seen us through.”

“There are no differences between the teams as was seen throughout the four matches. We won the Copa del Rey (against Barca) by playing fairly. I don’t feel that Barcelona were better than us, but rather that they have a lot of help from the referees.”