Gerrard refuses to blame Rooney for the worst night of his life

By George Burns Jul 1, 2006, 21:55 GMT

Gelsenkirchen - Steven Gerrard said Saturday that England's quarter-final defeat to Portugal on penalties after the match finished scoreless at the end of extra time was the worst moment of his footballing career.

However the Liverpool midfielder, who was one of three England players to miss his spot kick in the nailbiting shootout, refused to blame team-mate Wayne Rooney, who was sent off with an hour gone for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho.

'I've never felt this bad before after a football match. The lads feel really, really down at the moment,' said Gerrard before quickly exonerating Rooney of blame.

'He had a couple of Portuguese players all over him and I thought he was going to get a free kick,' said Gerrard.

'But I haven't seen the incident to be able to comment on it. None of the boys are going to blame Wayne. He is a great player and is so important for us.'

Rooney's dismissal meant England were forced to play the remaining half hour of normal time and a further 30 minutes of extra time with a man fewer.

'It was really difficult when we went down to 10 men,' admitted Gerrard.

'We gave everything we had. We were running on empty in extra time and the idea was to try to get it to the penalty shootout and win it.

'Our penalties weren't good enough and I take responsibility for my penalty.'

Frank Lampard and Jamie Carragher also missed for England while Rooney's Manchester United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo sealed England's fate with an expertly taken kick to send Portugal through 3-1 on penalties scored.

The 26-year-old felt England had missed a golden opportunity to make it to the last four of the World Cup for only the third time in the nation's history after winning the tournament on home soil in 1966 and going out to Germany on penalties in 1990.

'If we had pulled through today, that may have given us the confidence to maybe go all the way,' said Gerrard.

'We got it to the penalty shootout, which is a lottery of course and we didn't win that lottery tonight. The lads are gutted.'