AFP, LONDON, April 11: Tottenham striker Peter Crouch admits his crazy red card against Real Madrid was the lowest moment of his career.
Crouch was sent off in the 15th minute of Tottenham's Champions League quarter-final first leg clash at the Bernabeu for two reckless and unnecessary challenges.
The England international's dismissal played a major role in Tottenham's eventual 4-0 defeat, which leaves them with virtually no chance in the return leg at White Hart Lane on Wednesday.
And former Liverpool and Portsmouth star Crouch conceded he had never felt worse during his 13-year career than following his red card in the Spanish capital.
"That's as low as I've felt just because of the sheer importance of the match," Crouch said.
"It was the quarter-final of the Champions League at the Bernabeu against Real Madrid. With all those things put together, it was very disappointing.
"I watched the game in one of the referee's rooms with Rafa (van der Vaart), who came off at half-time.
"It was really frustrating. With each goal that went in, it felt like I had cost the team."
However, Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp took Crouch aside at the club's Chigwell base and told him to forget the incidents.
The move seemed to work as Crouch scored twice in Saturday's 3-2 win over Stoke.
Crouch revealed that he was so desperate to make up for his red card that he almost had to resort to begging Redknapp to start him against Stoke.
"I was dying to play," he said. "I was thinking of saying 'Please, please, play me' to try and make amends and help get three points.
"I told myself before the game, 'Don't do anything stupid' and I scored a couple of goals so thankfully it worked well."
Crouch's sending off had drawn criticism from some Spurs fans and there were signs that he would not be given a good reception when his name was greeted with a few boos as the teams were announced over the public address system prior to the warm-ups on Saturday.
But in the end the Spurs support got behind the 30-year-old and he now hopes they have forgiven him.
"I said sorry to the players and the manager but I had a chance to say sorry to all the fans as well," Crouch added. "Hopefully I have repaid them a little bit with two goals."
Crouch denied that the reason behind his two fouls on Marcelo and Sergio Ramos were because he was too pumped up for the Madrid game.
"I have played in lots of big games before. They were genuinely honest tackles," he said.
"I thought I could get the ball. (Stoke winger) Jermaine Pennant did a tackle in the first half that was exactly the same and he just got a warning. That's Premier League football."
