Cristiano Ronaldo is not getting decisions from referees because of his stature and status, according to Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand, with match official wary of "pandering" to the star.
Ronaldo was denied two penalties against West Ham on Sunday after his fourth goal in three appearances helped United earn a 2-1 come-from-behind win at the London Stadium.
Said Benrahma's deflected strike gave West Ham the lead before Ronaldo's equaliser in the first half. Jesse Lingard scored a screamer late on to give the Reds the lead before De Gea saved Mark Noble's spot kick deep into injury time in a thrilling finale in east London.
But before the West Ham penalty, Ronaldo was brought down by Vladimir Coufal and then Kurt Zouma in two separate incidents but the referee Martin Atkinson waved away the frantic protests of the away side.
Now Ferdinand, who was speaking on his podcast Vibe with Five, believes that referees are going against Ronaldo because they don't want to be seen to be pandering to a superstar.
"The penalties - how is that not a penalty?", the former West Ham and United defender said.
"It's almost like he's getting treated a certain way because it's him, like 'I can't give it because it's Ronaldo because I'm going to look bad and I'm pandering to him because of his ego, stature and status'.
"No, it's a stonewall-er, a 100 per cent penalty. I don't understand how you can't give that penalty, even with VAR how are you not giving that?!"
United are yet to be given a penalty this season after earning 11 penalties in the Premier League last season, more than every other team except for Leicester.
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