Savage: I begged ref not to show red

1:37pm Monday 15th January 2007

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BLACKBURN Rovers midfielder Robbie Savage begged referee Rob Styles not to send off Gilberto Silva during Saturday's clash with Arsenal at Ewood.

The Brazilian World Cup winner saw red for aiming a petulant kick at Savage following a flashpoint between the pair in the 13th minute.

But as Mr Styles went to reach for his top pocket, Savage tried to intervene and save Gilberto from an early bath by pleading the Gunners star's innocence.

Rovers' midfield dynamo said: "I was shocked when it was a red card.

"I thought at best it maybe should have been a yellow for him, and nothing for me.

"I told the ref don't send him off' but he just said don't tell me how to do my job'.

"I suppose he was right if you're sticking to the rules of the game, because they say if you kick out then you get sent off.

"But I don't like to see other players get sent off in those circumstances."

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger later suggested Savage went overboard' in his reaction to Gilberto's kick - a claim which the Rovers player strongly refuted.

"I just went and pressurised the ball. As he was tripping over, I tried to win the ball, then he kicked me," said Savage.

"He definitely made contact and if people think I went down easily, they should watch it again on TV.

"I have gone past all those old days of feigning injury and I said to the referee he shouldn't send him off so I have nothing really to regret.

"I can't believe some of them said I should have been sent off. Why should I have been sent off?"

Despite Gilberto's early dismissal, Arsenal still went on to win the game 2-0 thanks to goals from Kolo Toure and Thierry Henry, and Wenger later said he would not be lodging an appeal, even though the Brazilian will now miss his side's showdown with Manchester United.

The Arsenal boss said: "You know what Savage is like. He can liven a game up and has a lot of quality because he's a fighter.

"Sometimes he does a bit too much and on this occasion he did a bit too much.

"If he did try to tell the referee not to send him off then I thank him.

"It looked harsh but you have to accept that Gilberto retaliated.

"He (Savage) made more of it but maybe then he realised that he should not have gone down - that's when he went to the referee.

"If you ask the referee he will tell you he sent him (Gilberto) off for retaliation and that's a red card offence."

Saturday's defeat brought to an end Rovers' four-game winning streak and Savage believes he and his team-mates failed to capitalise on their extra man advantage.

"I don't think we did ourselves justice really," said Savage "It was funny playing against ten.

"They just sat deep and looked to hit us on the break.

"We had chances but we didn't really get going, so it's disappointing after the run we've been on.

"The good thing is they're out of the way. When Arsenal play like they can, they're one of the best teams in world football."

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