Cristiano Ronaldo has been giving staff at Manchester United headaches for weeks, but those minor pains were nothing compared to the full-blown migraine he instigated when he sat down with Piers Morgan for an interview released this week.
The Portuguese forward, who has become increasingly embittered during his second spell at United, finally broke cover to aim potshots at his team-mates past and present, manager Erik ten Hag and, you half-expected him to say, “anyone else that knows me”.
Here are all the key quotes we have so far from an absolutely archetypal “bombshell interview”, the full version of which is due to air on Wednesday and Thursday night on TalkTV, and which could be the final straw for a club and a player all too ready to split up.
Ronaldo on United
“I think the fans should know the truth,” Ronaldo told Morgan.
“I want the best for the club. This is why I come to Manchester United. But you have some things inside that don’t help [us] reach the top level as [Manchester] City, Liverpool and even now Arsenal. A club with this dimension should be top of the tree in my opinion and they are not unfortunately.
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When Cristiano Ronaldo's interview with Piers Morgan is on TalkTV, and how to watch14 November, 2022“I love Manchester United, I love the fans, they’re always on my side. But if they want to do it different, they have to change many, many things.
“He [Sir Alex Ferguson] knows better than anybody that the club is not on the path they deserve to be.
“He knows. Everyone knows. The people who don’t see that, it’s because they don’t want to see. They are blind.”
Ronaldo on Wayne Rooney
Rooney and Ronaldo were one of the great combinations on the field at United, but the former England captain incensed his former team-mate when he wrote in his Times column that “United should allow him to go and get a No 9 in who is going to be there for the next three or four years and really help them build a team that can be successful“.
Ronaldo said: “I don’t know why he criticises me so badly, probably because he finished his career and I’m still playing at high level.”
He added, laughing: “I’m not going to say that I’m looking better than him. Which is true…”
Ronaldo on Gary Neville
“People can have his own opinion but they don’t really know what is going on for example inside the training ground, Carrington or even my life. They should listen not only one point of view, they have to listen my point of view as well because it’s easy to criticise but if you don’t have the whole story, it’s easy.
“They [Neville and Rooney] are not my friends. I don’t know if they have a job in television, they must criticise to be more famous. I think they take advantage of that because they are not stupid. I have to carry on with my life with [criticism] but it’s hard when you see people who were in dressing room with you criticise you that way – but I’m not going to sleep bad because of the criticism.”
He even suggested their relationship had soured long before Neville became a pundit.
Ronaldo added: “They are not my friends, they are colleagues. We play together, they’re not coming, we’re not ever having dinner together.”
Neville’s response? “Anyone for dinner?” he wrote on Twitter.
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“I don’t have respect for him because he doesn’t show respect for me. If you don’t have respect for me, I’m never gonna have respect for you.”
Ronaldo on Ralf Rangnick
“If you’re not even a coach, how are you going to be the boss of Manchester United? I’d never even heard of him.”
Ronaldo on the Glazers
Perhaps the only thing from the interview that will resonate with virtually every United fan is his criticism of the club’s owners, who have long been accused of using the organisation for their own profits rather than trying to win silverware, and who are the subject of a widely-supported “Glazers Out” campaign among fans.
“Manchester are a marketing club – they get money from the marketing,” he said.
“It will be hard for Manchester to be top of the game in the next two or three years.
“The owners of the club, the Glazers, they don’t care about the club, professional sport.”
Ronaldo also said how angry it made him that they appeared not to believe that he missed the pre-season tour due to his daughter being hospitalised.
“I spoke with the directors and president of Manchester United and they kind of didn’t believe that something was going wrong which made me feel bad,” he added.
“They believed it but it’s something that really hurt me because they doubted my words. “We had one week in hospital because Bella had big problems and I didn’t go to the pre-season because of that.
“Because I wasn’t going to leave my family if something happened to do a pre-season because I didn’t think it was fair to leave my family.”
Man Utd’s response
The club issued a terse statement in the aftermath of the interview, saying: “Manchester United notes the media coverage regarding an interview by Cristiano Ronaldo. The club will consider its response after the full facts have been established.
“Our focus remains on preparing for the second half of the season and continuing the momentum, belief and togetherness being built among the players, manager, staff, and fans.”
However, i understands United are deeply disappointed at the timing and the content of the interview and are expected to dole out severe punishment when the full two-part interview has been released later this week. That could include moving to terminate the 37-year-old’s contract, either by claiming breach of contract or by mutual consent.
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