Cristiano Ronaldo shrugged off the widespread booing he received during Portugal's World Cup semi-final 1-0 defeat to France. Despite giving the strongest showing from any of Portugal's players in the semi-final, his every touch was greeted with a chorus of jeers from all parts of the 66,000 capacity stadium. "I was pleased about being booed," he said. "I am a dangerous player. And maybe the French fans were upset to see a dangerous player," Ronaldo was quoted as saying by Sky Sports News. It is believed that the booing stemmed from a number of England fans in the crowd who were angry at Ronaldo for seemingly requesting a referee show Manchester United teammate Wayne Rooney a red card during the match against the Three Lions. Still, heckles did not appear to upset the winger as did referee Jorge Larrionda's decision to award France a penalty that won them the game. "It doesn't worry me. I'm just here to do my job and try and help the team," the 21-year-old said in regards to the crowd's abuse. "We played well and did our best but the referee didn't help us." Ronaldo blamed Portugal's limited stature in football as the reason the referee was stricter on his team than on the more renowned France. "Everyone who saw the match could see that the referee wasn't fair. He should have shown yellow cards but he did not because Portugal is a small country," he said. "We just have to carry on working and then we will be a big country."
