Munich : It was always unlikely that Portugal would leave this World Cup quietly and so it proved on Wednesday night as Cristiano Ronaldo and coach Luiz Felipe Scolari laid the blame for the semifinal defeat at the feet of the Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda.

The incidents that sent the Portuguese camp scowling towards Stuttgart for a third-place play-off against Germany on Saturday night came in the space of five first-half minutes as Larrionda first awarded France a penalty for a foul on Thierry Henry and then denied Ronaldo a similar prize as he flew theatrically to the ground in a crowded French box.

Ronaldo claimed after the game that he was pushed by the French defender Willy Sagnol as he attempted to reach a Luis Figo cross. "He was a very bad referee, I should have had a penalty," said the winger afterwards.

Unpunished foul

His coach agreed that a foul went unpunished, a sentiment demonstrated when he led most of the Portuguese bench to the edge of the technical area in protest against Larrionda's decision to wave play on.

"It was a penalty, they had to give a penalty, and against Ronaldo it didn't happen," Scolari said before implying that the officials had conspired against his side. "The referee made a mistake when he did not give a penalty when Ronaldo was fouled. The referee knows exactly what he is doing. We know South American referees know how to kill the game."

There was criticism for the French players too, whom Scolari accused of insulting his team during confrontations after the final whistle. "The French players made some absurd comments about our country and our athletes that I cannot repeat, and they did not show respect to our country."

Even with sympathy for Scolari's side and their outstanding player running low — Ronaldo was jeered, throughout a fabulous display, by both French supporters and neutrals after his encounter with Wayne Rooney at the weekend — there was little to suggest there was grounds for the claims of injustice.

Television replays showed that Sagnol made only the slightest contact with Ronaldo, who needed little persuasion to hit the ground having realised that the centre was beyond his reach.

Scolari did concede that France deserved a penalty when Ricardo Carvalho belied his experience by taking a tumble when turned by Thierry Henry and then catching the Arsenal striker's ankle with an instinctive lunge.

It set the stage for Zinedine Zidane to reprise one of his finest moments, the golden goal penalty that earned his side a place in the final of Euro 2000 against the same opponent. He was similarly unerring on Wednesday night and France's coach Raymond Domenech paid tribute to his star, who will take his final bow on the greatest stage of all on Sunday.

"Zidane is a world champion, it is as simple as that," said Domenech. "He has got his photograph on walls across France and he is a hero to the French public. He has brought something permanent and wonderful to French football and to his team. He has afforded the French public real dreams this month, but this has always been the case, he has been doing this for 10 years.

"Of course it will be the last game for him, but for us it is not Zinedine Zidane's last game, it's a World Cup final, and Zizou is thinking about it in the same way. This is not a victory tour for him and Lilian (Thuram) and Claude (Makelele). It is a World Cup, and we want to win it."

@ Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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