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Revealed: The amazing stats of card-happy ref who sent off Nani - and he follows Ronaldo and Real Madrid on Twitter

Published: 04:30 EDT, 6 March 2013 | Updated: 05:09 EDT, 6 March 2013

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The Turkish referee who ruined Manchester United’s Champions League dreams at Old Trafford last night has shown an incredible 36 yellow cards and three reds in just eight club games since mid-January.

Cuneyt Cakir was on his way back to Istanbul this morning with Sir Alex Ferguson’s United team still seething about his bizarre decision to send off Portuguese winger Nani with half an hour left in their tie against Real Madrid on Tuesday night.

Scroll down for post-match reaction video

Fury: United were outraged when Cakir showed Nani a red card for his challenge on Alvaro Arbeloa

Best of friends: Cakir's Twitter page shows that he follows Real Madrid and their star man Cristiano Ronaldo

CAKIR'S CRAZY CARD COUNT

Jan 20 - Trabzonspor 1-3 Karabukspor
6 yellows 1 red
Jan 26 - Gençlerbirliği 1-0 Akhisar Belediyespor 5 yellows
Feb 3 - Fenerbahce 1-2 Sivasspor
4 yellows
Feb 10 - Kayserispor 0-0 Orduspor
2 yellows
Feb 18 - Adana Demirspor 1-3 Kayseri Erciyesspor 3 yellows
Feb 22 - Gaziantepspor 2-1 Bursaspor
5 yellows 1 red
Mar 2 - Akhisar Belediyespor 0-1 Elazigspor 6 yellows
Mar 5 - Manchester United 1-2 Real Madrid 5 yellows 1 red

United were leading 1-0 at the time and heading in to the last eight of their favourite competition but Cakir’s decision to dismiss Nani for his challenge on Alvaro Arbeloa changed the night and Ferguson’s team crashed out 2-1.

Now it can be revealed just how fond the Insurance agent is of waving cards around after it emerged the 36-year-old has not refereed a single game without booking someone all year.

It also emerged last night that Cakir follows both Real Madrid and star player Cristiano Ronaldo on Twitter.

Only on Saturday, in his last domestic game before travelling to Manchester, Cakir showed six yellow cards in a game between Akhisar Beledi and Elazigspor in Turkey.

A week earlier, meanwhile, he booked five players and sent one off in Gaziantepspor’s win over Bursaspor.

Appeal: United are weighing up the prospect of lodging an official complaint over Cakir's performance

Ferguson and club officials at United will spend this morning whether to lodge an official complaint about Cakir’s performance.

At the very least, the Barclays Premier League leaders are expected to contest Nani’s dismissal in order to free him up for the start of next season’s European season.