Ricardo Carvalho admitted he made contact with Thierry Henry in the incident that allowed Zinedine Zidane's penalty to secure France a 1-0 win over Portugal in last night's World Cup semi-final.

However, the defender felt his side were hard done by by Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda.

Carvalho had a personal nightmare with the 33rd-minute foul on Henry that proved to be the decisive moment and then picked up a yellow card that will rule him out of Saturday's third-place match with Germany in Stuttgart.

Carvalho admitted he was to blame for the penalty, saying: "It was my mistake.

"I know I made contact with Henry but the referee could have played the advantage. He (Larrionda) did their job for them.

"When we had dangerous situations he did not help us out.

"We did not play as we wanted to and are capable of but all the same we deserved more than this," the Chelsea player told Portuguese sports daily Record.

"I don't think France were any better than us - they managed to score a penalty and then defended. We did not manage to equalise and it was very difficult for us."