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PREMIER LEAGUE: MAN-U MANAGER BACKS TEVEZ SIGNING August 17, 2007
(SomaliNet) While Portsmouth's Richard Hughes has denied the boss' accusation that they tried to get Ronaldo sent off, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has backed summer signing Carlos Tevez to step into the illustrious boots of suspended Cristiano Ronaldo and injured Wayne Rooney.
The teams shared a 1-1 draw on Wednesday evening at Fratton Park.
Ronaldo saw red for moving towards Hughes aggressively with his forehead - although the contact was light - and Tevez made his full debut in a United shirt.
The Portugal winger will now miss three matches, the first away to fierce rivals City, while England striker Rooney faces several weeks on the sidelines with a broken foot.
"He [Tevez] was absolutely terrific," Ferguson told MUTV. "He made a great contribution. Hopefully he is fit and ready for Sunday.
"We're going to be missing Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo for the derby. But the good thing is that I got 90 minutes out of Carlos.
"He tired in the last 15 minutes but I couldn't take him off because he is capable of scoring from any situation, whether he is tired or not."
Ferguson lambasted referee Steve Bennett - not for the first time in his career - over Ronaldo's red, while conceding that the player was foolish to fall for Pompey's "intimidation tactics".
The Football Association appear to have decided not to call the Scot to account over his criticism. Hughes said that he did not agree with Ferguson's assessment.
"I certainly didn't try to set a trap to get him sent off, as Ferguson has said," he said.
"What happened was one of those things. I've never thought of Ronaldo as a hothead. None of the players think so otherwise he'd be getting targeted every week, which isn't the case.
"I do think in that particular incident he was getting wound up. He swung a leg at me before the butt. He looked a bit frustrated and I felt it was more of his doing to get head-to-head and not mine.
"A push and a shove led to another, and myself and Ronaldo squared up to each other. The last thing I thought was that either of us were going to get sent off. You often see footballers doing that.
"Whether he meant it or not, he leaned in a little bit and made contact with me. The ref was standing right there and he saw fit to issue a red. It wasn't a 'Glasgow kiss' - I've received harder head-butts than that!"
United have only picked up two points from their opening two games while close rivals Chelsea have six. Portsmouth also have a pair after their opening day draw at Derby.-Eurosport.