‘The petulance, sulking & stomping has to stop’ – Gary Neville slams Cristiano Ronaldo as he backs Man Utd boss Ten Hag
GARY NEVILLE has slammed Cristiano Ronaldo’s petulant behaviour after he was dropped by Portugal.
Ronaldo was named on the bench for Portugal’s World Cup last-16 clash against Switzerland.
It comes after the superstar threw a strop after being substituted against South Korea in Portugal’s final group game.
Manager Fernando Santos was unhappy with Ronaldo’s attitude and Neville believes the 37-year-old is in danger of tarnishing his short-term legacy.
Neville pointed out the fact Ronaldo has now been dropped by three different managers due to his behaviour and warned his former team-mate to stop being petulant.
The pundit said on ITV: “Well when it happened at United the suggestion was that Ten Hag was trying to make a move on him, establish his authority.
“This 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.
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“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.”
Ronaldo left Manchester United last month after revealing he did not respect Ten Hag.
The striker threw several tantrums in his second spell at Old Trafford and was dropped by Ten Hag after refusing to come on against Tottenham earlier this season.
Ronaldo was also left out of the Juventus team towards the end of his spell in Turin and could find it difficult to regain his Portugal place.
That’s because his replacement Goncalo Ramos took just 17 to score against Switzerland in what was his first ever international start.