When Frank Lampard Displayed Incredible Sportsmanship To Stop Cristiano Ronaldo Red Card

Frank Lampard once displayed a brilliant bit of honesty to stop Cristiano Ronaldo getting sent off.

In 2009, Manchester United beat Chelsea 3-0 at Old Trafford courtesy of goals from Nemanja Vidic, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov.

But they could have quite easily had Ronaldo sent off late in the second half of the huge clash at the top of the table.

Already on a yellow card, Ronaldo was extremely late on Lampard and produced a poor, studs-up challenge on the England international.

The Portuguese sensation went in too eagerly and ended up catching Lampard after he had been beaten to the ball.

A free-kick was immediately given and it looked like Howard Webb was about to send Ronaldo off.

However, the former Sporting CP winger was not shown a second yellow card and he owed a great deal to Lampard for his actions.

Although the tackle left him kneeling on the turf, he did not roll around on the pitch and try and get his opponent sent off. Instead, he got up in no time, had an embrace with Ronaldo and appeared to have a quick word with Webb, the man in the middle.

You could see how grateful Ronaldo was for Lampard's integrity and sportsmanship. With the score 2-0 to United, a red card in the 73rd minute could have got Chelsea back in the game but Lampard elected to not make a meal of things.

Berbatov clinched the win in the 87th minute, with United moving five points behind Liverpool with two games in hand in a title race they would emerge victorious in at the end of the campaign.

This particular meeting between Chelsea and United at Old Trafford is also remembered for a genius corner-kick routine that saw a Ronaldo header wrongly disallowed.

Rooney had cutely touched the ball in the corner quadrant, leading to Giggs dribbling and whipping a cross in for Ronaldo to power home. The flag went up from the linesman and Webb chalked off the goal.

United players were furious but their anger didn't last too long as Vidic scored from the re-taken corner.

Featured Image Credit: Image: Sky Sports

Topics: Chelsea, Manchester United, Frank Lampard, Cristiano Ronaldo

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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