Furious response from Manchester United after Cristiano Ronaldo bombshell
Manchester United has responded to Cristiano Ronaldo’s scorching claims. The club reportedly feels very different behind the scenes.
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Manchester United has been forced into releasing a statement following Cristiano Ronaldo’s explosive interview with Piers Morgan.
Ronaldo hit out at the club for “betraying” him and making him feel like a “black sheep”, blamed for everything going wrong at Old Trafford.
The striker revealed he does not respect manager Erik ten Hag and blasted the club’s lack of progress since Sir Alex Ferguson left in 2013, The Sun reports.
Manchester United club chiefs — including Ten Hag, chief executive Richard Arnold and football director John Murtough — sat down for initial talks to discuss their response.
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And the Red Devils made their first move by making a brief statement on Monday night.
The club said: “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.”
Sky Sports report the club are also taking legal advice before making their decision on how to punish Ronaldo.
Snippets of the world exclusive interview were released on Monday AEDT with Ronaldo also hitting out at the Glazers’ ownership as well as former teammate Wayne Rooney.
According to multiple reports, the club is privately frustrated and furious with the 37-year-old for going on the record with the public interview, which will be shown on TalkTV this week.
United found out about the interview on Sunday evening, just before the team boarded the plane back to Manchester following the last-gasp 2-1 win at Fulham.
However, the club decided not to comment last night to keep the focus on the victory, which leaves United three points off the top four with a game in hand.
The forward — who missed the last two games before the World Cup by telling the club he was ill — is not expected back at Carrington until after the tournament, where he will captain Portugal in Qatar.
Ronaldo has started four of United’s 14 Premier League games this season, scoring just one goal.
The Telegraph report that despite acknowledgment and respect for what Ronaldo has achieved in football, his recent behaviour has disappointed a number of players.
One source said there will “not be a tear shed” if and when Ronaldo leaves while another claimed the dressing room was “not allowing Ronaldo’s tantrums to distract them”.
Ronaldo told Piers: “I don’t have respect for Ten Hag because he doesn’t show respect for me.
“If you don’t have respect for me, I’m never gonna have respect for you.
“The progress was zero. Since Sir Alex left, I saw no evolution in the club. Nothing had changed.
“I think the fans should know the truth. 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 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.
Ronaldo added: “As [Pablo] Picasso said, you have to destroy it to rebuild it (the artist’s exact quote was: ‘Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.’) and if they start with me, for me, it’s not a problem.
“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.”
Jamie Carragher and Mark Bosnich were among the players-turn-pundits to hit out at Ronaldo for the interview — and both believe he should be pushed out of United.
Carragher said: “I just thought the comments were bizarre. They were bang out of order considering the timing of it.
“They should be enjoying themselves and then the Ronaldo interview comes out and boom — it’s about negativity.
“Not the team, not the manager — it’s about Cristiano Ronaldo. And it’s been like that since he’s come back. It’s basically been the Cristiano Ronaldo show.
“This season he’s not involved and he’s craving the attention that he can’t get because he’s not on the pitch.
“The only way he’s going to do that is by causing trouble and that was exactly his intention with the interview.
“He wants to be sacked, that’s obvious.”
But Morgan responded on Twitter: “You might change your mind about the interview when you hear what he says about @GNev2.”
Ronaldo told the Sky News host in the interview clips released fans needed to know the “truth”.
During the 90-minute interview the five-time Ballon d’Or winner also spoke about the heartbreaking loss of his baby son and coping with grief in the public eye with his girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez.
The athlete claimed United did not support him when his daughter was taken to hospital in July.
He said the club doubted him and showed a lack of empathy when he did not arrive for pre-season training on time.
Ronaldo returned to Old Trafford in August 2021 from Juventus. His first spell at United came under former manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who retired in 2013.
During his time at the club, the footballer won three Premier League titles, the Champions League and the first of his Ballon d’Or crowns as the best player in the world.
“The progress was zero since Sir Alex left, I saw no evolution in the club. Nothing had changed,” Ronaldo said on what he found on his return to United.
“He 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.”
– with AFP
Originally published as Furious response from Manchester United after Cristiano Ronaldo bombshell
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