Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri has insisted that Jamie Vardy is not a diver, despite the striker being sent off for simulation during this afternoon's 2-2 draw against West Ham United.
Vardy, who had earlier opened the scoring for his side at the King Power Stadium, was shown a second yellow card shortly before the hour mark when he went down under the challenge of Angelo Ogbonna inside the box.
Replays appeared to show that Vardy had looked to engineer the contact before throwing himself to the ground, but Ranieri believes that the pace at which the England international was moving meant that any touch would have sent him over.
"He never dives. He's always good. He's very fast, and at this speed, if you touch even a little then [you may go down]," the Italian told reporters.
"But it's okay. I always speak with the players about our performance and our performance was good.
"Also, it was better with 10 vs. 11, very close, when we conceded the second goal, my players wanted to draw and it was unbelievable, fantastic. Amazing."
Vardy, who was clearly angered by the sending-off, could face further action from the FA should referee Jonathan Moss include his reaction in his report.
Barney Corkhill
