Former teammates with Cristiano Ronaldo, Gary Neville once again launched a furious tirade against the Portugal captain for his reaction to being substituted by manager Fernando Santos. The Selecaos boss had constantly taken-off Ronaldo in the dying minutes of all all three of Portugal’s group stage outings, barring the instance against South Korea in the penultimate group fixture. Santos took a bold decision of taking-off Ronaldo right in the 65th minute, in contrast to his earlier substitution which came during the final 10 minutes of the game.
The five-time Ballon d’Or was clearly unhappy with his manager’s decision, as first had a verbal spat with a Korean player while walking off the pitch, and then reportedly had a fallout with Santos as well. Ronaldo had to pay the price of his conduct, as Santos bluntly dropped him for the crucial Round of 16 clash against Switzerland, which Portugal cruised to a 6-1 win. Although the 37-year-old did come on in the 73rd minute, the game was done by that time, as he further failed to get on the scoresheet with Rafael Leao scoring his side’s sixth and final goal.
Neville hits out at Cristiano Ronaldo for falling out with another manager
Cristiano Ronaldo and his benching has now followed him at the national team set-up as well, which he escaped from Manchester United. The Red Devils’ boss Erik ten Hag reduced Ronaldo’s role to a benchwarmer since his arrival in summer, and opted for a rather youthful line-up. Moreover, it was quite evident that a 37-year-old Ronaldo was going to be sacrificed by Ten Hag to establish his high-pressing system at Old Trafford.
And after failing to bag a move away from United in the summer, Ronaldo finally terminated his contract with the club before kickstarting his World Cup campaign. His interview with Piers Morgan, where he slammed the club, the manager as well as some of the ex-players, who also happened to be his teammates at some point, put the nail in the coffin of Ronaldo’s second spell at Manchester United.
But it seems his tantrums like falling out with the manager, and storming down the tunnel have continued with the national team as well. After his heated argument with Santos over his constant substitution at the tournament so far, where he has only managed one goal in four games, Ronaldo headed down the tunnel straight away after the Switzerland win, refusing to join his teammates who celebrated their quarterfinals berth. Launching a staunch attack over his recent behaviour, Neville in his pre-match analysis on ITV said:
“Well when it [Ronaldo’s benching] happened at United the suggestion was that Ten Hag was trying to make a move on him, establish his authority. This [Fernando Santos] is a manager who has got an unbelievable relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo for eight years and there are a lot of fans of Ronaldo who are not willing to tell him the truth. I think he does need to listen to the truth that it is becoming a little bit of a scruffy end.
It would not surprise that he comes on tonight and scores the winner but the petulance, the stomping around, the sulking, it’s got to stop because it does not reflect well on him at all. His long-term legacy is set, he is one of the great all-time players. But in the short-term he has got to do a lot better because is the Juventus manager wrong? Is the Manchester United manager wrong? And now is the Portugal manager wrong? There are three of them that have done the same thing with him.”
Cristiano Ronaldo revealed in his interview with Morgan last month that Ten Hag didn’t have respect for him, and he simply reciprocated the feeling. Now he finds himself at crossroads with the Portugal boss, who however claimed that Ronaldo’s benching was purely a tactical decision. With his replacement, Goncalo Ramos netting a hat-trick on his World Cup debut, and the team looking more balanced as well, doubts have already furled up whether Cristiano Ronaldo will start the quarterfinal clash against Morocco on December 10.