UEFA set to investigate Real Madrid duo for 'deliberate' red cards

| Thursday November 25, 2010 00:00

Alonso and Ramos both collected second cautions for time-wasting late in Real's 4-0 win at the Amsterdam Arena on Tuesday. They will serve one-match suspensions in a meaningless final group match against Auxerre, and then start the knockout rounds in February with a clean disciplinary slate. Neither player protested, and Ramos even shook hands with Scottish referee Craig Thomson before walking off the pitch. Dutch broadcaster NOS showed footage of Madrid coach Jos Mourinho speaking to Alonso on the sideline before he picked up his second yellow.

However, Mourinho later dismissed any suggestion he had instructed his players to seek deliberate punishments.Mourinho said: 'I spoke with many players throughout the game, not only with Ramos and Alonso.

'Stories sell, but the important thing is the 4-0 win and the fantastic game we had. Let's talk about that and not other things.

'The sendings off came after an easy game where the referee has shown some strange yellows.

'They are cards that I don't like. It was an easy game to control. Ajax made a lot of fouls...' Mourinho admitted it did not matter that Alonso and Ramos would miss their final group game, but insisted he still wanted to beat Auxerre at the Bernabu in December.

'The red cards we picked up don't matter hugely as we have already qualified ahead of the next game against Auxerre.

If Ramos and Alonso can't play against Auxerre then there will be others, but we are not going to gift the game to the French.

We want to win them all.'

Ramos also insisted there was nothing deliberate about his dismissal, saying:

'We didn't go looking for the cards.  Seeing what the score was, the referee could have saved them. But he sent me off and that's that.'