The end of Cristiano Ronaldo’s spectacular career is going from bad to worse following the 37-year-old’s highly controversial exit from Manchester United late last month.
Ronaldo’s explosive interview with TalkTV host Piers Morgan resulted in the mutual termination of his contract at Old Trafford and the forward is now a free agent for the first time in his career.
Ronaldo’s exit was wrapped up before his Portugal side began their World Cup campaign but headlines surrounding the legendary forward are never far away.
The Portugal captain started all three of their group games but a poor reaction to a second-half substitution in the 2-1 loss to South Korea last week has not been welcomed by manager Fernando Santos.
That episode has resulted in Ronaldo being dropped for Portugal in their huge round-of-16 clash with Switzerland on Tuesday evening – the first time he has not started a major international tournament game since 2008.
Gary Neville, who was heavily critical of Ronaldo toward the end of his second stint at United, has now reacted to the latest fallout.
“Well what happened at United, the suggestion was, it was because Ten Hag was trying to make a move on him, he’s trying to establish his authority. This is a manager [Santos] who’s got an unbelievable relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo for eight years,” Neville told ITV, via the Manchester Evening News.
“And there are a lot of fans of Cristiano Ronaldo who aren’t willing to tell him the truth. I think he does need to listen to the truth, that it’s becoming a little bit of a scruffy end.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if he came on tonight and scored the winner, but the petulance, the stomping around, the sulking it’s got to stop because it doesn’t reflect well on him at all.
“His long-term legacy is set, he’s protected. He’s one of the great all time players but in the short term, he’s got to do a lot better, because is the Juventus manager wrong? The Manchester United manager wrong? And now is the Portugal manager wrong? There’s three of them that now have done the same thing with him.”
SN’s verdict…
As Neville points out, Ronaldo’s long-term legacy is hardly at stake here but how he may regret how he handles these situations when his career his over.
It’s no secret that Ronaldo is approaching the end of a phenomenal career but he will want to leave through the front door. As things stand, he’s moving in the opposite direction on all fronts.
