Cristiano Ronaldo claims Gary Neville “uses” him for fame after snubbing his former Manchester United team-mate.
The Sky Sports pundit has previously been among those to defend the forward following his return to Old Trafford last summer. However, he has since changed his tune in light of this season’s events and has claimed Ronaldo needs to leave the club if he can’t accept his new role.
Some of Ronaldo’s former team-mates continue to back the forward, but many have called for him to depart whilst also passing judgment on his behaviour, both on the pitch and the subs bench. Ronaldo has suggested that Neville opts to criticize him due to the headlines it’ll create with their friends no longer there.
He told Talk TV: “It’s hard to listen [to] that kind of criticism and negative about people who play with you, for example, Gary Neville, as well. I think they take advantage of that (his profile) because they are not stupid. I’m the number one followed guy in the world. It’s not by coincidence.”
“To listen as ex-colleagues or team-mates criticize you when they only see one point of view. It’s easy. It’s easy to criticize, I don’t know if you have a job in television that they must criticize to be more famous. I really don’t understand it. It’s hard when you see people who were in the dressing room with you criticizing that way.”
Ronaldo recently ran onto the Old Trafford pitch to warm up and deliberately chose not to shake Neville’s hand whilst he was working for Sky. The Portuguese star has also taken aim at Wayne Rooney, who is another former team-mate to make comments he doesn’t agree with.
When quizzed on why he made those comments, Ronaldo said: “Probably, because 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.” He also added that the criticism did bother him, but he wouldn’t be losing sleep.
Rio Ferdinand and Roy Keane are among those to defend Ronaldo, even in recent weeks. The Irishman has been involved in several heated debates in the Sky studio as he puts forward the case for Ronaldo, which hasn’t gone unnoticed by the wantaway United star.
Ronaldo said on the pair: “Not just because they speak good about me, but they were there in the dressing room. They are football players. They know how players think and behave.” United has commented on the existence of the interview, but is yet to decide on how best to reprimand the player, who is now on international duty.
