Moscow, June 27 :

The under-fire Russian referee, who dished out a record yellow and red cards in the Portugal-Netherlands clash, denied that he was the one at fault. Valentin Ivanov described the match as “brutal” and the “hardest” of his career in an interview with Izvestia. He handed out four red and 16 yellow cards during the match. “Probably in the sense of brutality, yes, yesterday’s match was the hardest,” said Ivanov.

And asked if he had lost control over the contest, he said: “I don’t know... I refereed as I saw things, as I understood these situations.” Ivanov has been lambasted by players and media for his refereeing of Sunday’s showdown where he reduced both sides to nine men.

Dutch coach Marco van Basten said the refereeing had overshadowed the football. But Ivanov can take some comfort from his fellow countrymen. A poll of 1,596 people published in Izvestia showed that 61 per cent believe players deserved what they got. Another 23 per cent thought Ivanov wanted to make sure “Russia (who did not qualify) is long remembered in the World Cup 2006,” while 10 per cent reckoned he was taking “revenge” for the 7-1 drubbing of Russia by Portugal in the World Cup qualifiers.

More curiously, six per cent of respondents said Ivanov embarked on a card spree because “the fewer footballers there are on the field, the more interesting the game.”