During a 90-minute sit-down with Piers Morgan for TalkTV – which will air in full on Wednesday and Thursday – the Portuguese superstar accused United’s hierarchy of ‘betraying’ him and said he would ‘never respect’ manager Erik ten Hag.
Ronaldo also took aim at his many critics, singling out former team-mates Gary Neville and Rooney – even taking an unnecessary pop at the latter’s appearance.
According to Sky Sports, the DC United manager has no intention of entering into a public spat with Ronaldo and has decided not to make any public statements regarding the interview.
Rooney is described as ‘bemused’ by the attack and feels he has always been consistent and fair in his views on the 37-year-old, routinely referring to him as one of the two best players in the history of the sport alongside Lionel Messi.
He simply feels Ronaldo needs to accept he is in the latter stages of his career and needs to adjust his role in the team accordingly, which means respecting the fact he will not play every minute of every match.
Rooney ‘feels no animosity towards Ronaldo’ despite the five-time Ballon d’Or winner deciding to make a jibe about his former team-mate’s appearance, as well as suggesting he was jealous of the longevity of his career.
Speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Ronaldo was asked if Rooney is jealous of him and replied: ‘Probably, because he finished his career in his 30s. I’m still playing at a high level, I’m not going to say that I’m looking better than him, which is true.
‘It’s hard to listen to that kind of criticism and negativity from people who played with you, for example Gary Neville as well.
‘People can have their own opinion but they don’t really know what’s going on inside the training ground at Carrington or even my life. They should listen to not only one point of view, they have to listen to my point of view as well. It’s easy to criticise but if you don’t know the whole story, it’s easy.
‘They are not my friends. It’s easy to criticise, I don’t know if they have a job in television that they must criticise to be more famous. I really don’t understand it.
‘I think they take advantage of [my name] because they are not stupid.
‘I have to carry on my life with criticism. It’s hard when you see people who were in the dressing room with you criticise in that way. I’m not going to sleep badly because of the criticism but it’s not good to listen to that.’
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