Manchester United controversial penalty

A controversial penalty brought Manchester United back into their home game against Tottenham Hotspur. In the 57th minute Michael Carrick took the ball past the Tottenham defenders and into the D only to be brought down by the diving goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes. Refree Howard Webb ruled that Gomes had tackled Carrick instead of the ball and awarded a penalty, to the fury of the Spurs, and gave Gomes a yellow card. Cristiano Ronaldo took the penalty and easily converted it to a goal:



"It was a bit fortunate. Football is funny like that. Last week we were knocked out of the FA Cup by not getting a penalty kick," said United manager Sir Alex Ferguson on the controversial penalty. "It doesn't deflect from our second-half performance."

But the Spurs insist that without the penalty Manchester United could not have turned around the game, having gone down 2-0 in the first half. They don't realize that Michael Carrick would have scored anyway if he hadn't been felled by a diving Gomes, since there was nothing beween him and the goal.

In fact the change in energy with United came from the substitution of Nani by Carlos Tevez. And it was Tevez who set up the equaliser by Wayne Rooney in the 67th minute. Minutes later a diving Ronaldo headed in the third goal off a cross by Wayne Rooney, and celebrated by ripping off his shirt. The Spurs, who were in sight for their first win in 20 years at Old Trafford, were left reeling when Rooney tapped in goal number four from a pass by Ronaldo, and Dimitar Berbatov made it 5-2 in the 79th minute.