CRISTIANO Ronaldo should have been given the red card over the weekend.

This, for kicking Michael Dawson in the leg after the Tottenham Hotspur defender cleared the ball fairly in front of him near the touchline, says The New Paper's football analyst Tohari Paijan.

The Manchester United winger immediately realised his folly and apologised to Dawson.

He was lucky, though, to escape an instant red card.

The match at White Hart Lane ended in a goalless draw.

Every now and then, football stars commit stupid acts.

On Ronaldo's kick in the 81st minute, Tohari likened it to David Beckham's infamous incident in the 1998 World Cup.

Argentina were playing against England then in the World Cup's second knockout round.

In the second half of the hectic match, after being fouled by Diego Simeone for a free-kick, Beckham lay on the ground.

Then, in retaliation, he lifted his right leg to clip Simeone on the back of his knee.

That sent Simeone down on the pitch.

Beckham was shown the red card and England eventually lost on penalties.

Back to Ronaldo's folly over the weekend.

Manchester United were clearly dominating in the second half. Ronaldo was tackled fairly by Dawson, who managed to clear the ball.

It was a fair tackle, noted Tohari.

The ball went out, Ronaldo fell. Then, the winger reacted shamefully.

Said Tohari: 'The scenario was similar. Ronaldo should have been given a red card right away.

Apologising

'The action was fast enough to escape the referee's eye, but not the TV cameras.

'When you watch the replay in slow motion, you see that his action is intentional. Apologising is secondary to me.'

Why did Ronaldo do that?

'Being crowned the best player in Europe and scoring 42 goals last season, Ronaldo has to pay a price,' Tohari said.

'He is probably frustrated that everyone tries to mark him out of games. Players go for his legs. So he probably did it out of frustration.

'A leg for a leg.'