In one of his two-part interviews with Piers Morgan, Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo launched a stunning attack on Wayne Rooney and Gary Neville saying that “they are not my friends”.
“I don’t understand [the criticism],” Ronaldo said. “You should ask this question to him [Rooney] but I don’t know, why he criticises me so bad..
“He finished his career in [his] 30s. So, I’m still playing high-level. I’m not going to say that I’m looking better than him, which is true, but…
“It’s hard to listen to that kind of criticism and negativity from people who play with you, for example, Gary Neville, as well.
“People can have their own opinion but they don’t really know what’s going on. For example, inside the training ground and Carrington or even my life. They have to listen to my point of view as well. Because it’s easy to criticise but if you don’t know the whole story, it’s easy. They are not my friends.”
NEW: Cristiano Ronaldo reveals why be blanked Gary Neville on the pitch and what he really thinks of Wayne Rooney.@cristiano | @GNev2 | @WayneRooney | @piersmorgan | @TalkTV pic.twitter.com/9PtiHWb2ey
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) November 14, 2022
This is a remarkable turn of events because Ronaldo shared a dressing room with Rooney and Neville during their all conquering time at United, in which they won three Premier League titles, one Champions League, a Club World Cup, and a League Cup.
Much to Ronaldo’s displeasure, both Rooney and Neville have been vocal critics of the Portuguese this season and aimed to protect the best interests of Manchester United as they have not been happy with the way a star player has acted off the pitch this season.
Neville was extremely critical on the Gary Neville Podcast, when discussing the fall-out of Ronaldo’s matchday absence against Chelsea, in which he was dropped from the squad by manager Erik ten Hag as he left the stadium during the 2-0 victory over Tottenham.
A week after that Chelsea game, Neville was working for Sky as a TV Pundit and he was blanked by Ronaldo before he headed out to warm-up for the game against West Ham, in which United won 1-0 at Old Trafford.
The moment Cristiano Ronaldo ignored Gary Neville 👀
via @SkySportsPL pic.twitter.com/NWQ1nqY2Px
— utdreport (@utdreport) October 30, 2022
Rooney was also not satisfied with Ronaldo’s conduct when he spoke to TalkSport about the situation.
“But I just think the things he has done from the start of the season, it is not acceptable for Manchester United. I’ve seen Roy Keane defending him. Roy wouldn’t accept that. Roy wouldn’t accept that at all.
“It is a distraction which Manchester United don’t need at the minute, trying to rebuild.
“For Cristiano, just get your head down and work and be ready to play when the manager needs you. If he does that, he will be an asset. If he doesn’t, it will become an unwanted distraction.”
However, when Rooney was asked whether he thought United are a better team without Ronaldo in the team, he replied and said, “No, I don’t think so.”, which suggests that he still holds Ronaldo in high-esteem for what he has done in his career, but unfortunately Ronaldo cannot see that as he is picking up on the negative points Rooney made about him.
