Cristiano Ronaldo has insisted that Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag "provoked" him and was responsible for the forward's remarkable tantrum against Tottenham last month.
Ronaldo made headlines by storming off before the end of United's impressive 2-0 win over Spurs and left Old Trafford before the conclusion of the game.
Ten Hag later confirmed that Ronaldo had refused to come on as a substitute in the final minutes of the match - and Ronaldo has now given his verdict on the incident in the second part of his explosive, unsanctioned interview with Piers Morgan, which aired on Thursday night.
The veteran explained: “Piers I will be honest with you, it's something that I regret to leave from the stadium. Probably, or maybe no, I don't know. It's difficult to tell you 100% but let's say I regret, but in the same way I felt provoked by the coach. Not allowed for me, a coach to put me in three minutes in a game. Sorry, I'm not that kind of player. I know what I can give to the teams.”
Ronaldo had earlier come under fire for leaving Old Trafford at half-time during a pre-season friendly against Rayo Vallecano, but he questioned why he was the only one mentioned after others also left early during his chat with Morgan.
He added: “Me and eight players, but they mentioned only my name…everyone do that… Last year, many players did the same. In that game eight players do the same but they only speak about the black sheep which is me, which is, I completely understand, okay, it's done, I apologise to the coach and for me, the chapter was closed.”
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After storming down the tunnel against Tottenham, Ronaldo was dropped from the Manchester United squad for the subsequent match against Chelsea, but he hit out at the prospect of featuring for the final three minutes of the match.
He went on to say: “Don’t tell me that the top players, the guys who want everything, the key players will play three minutes. Come on, this is unacceptable after what they keep saying before, that they respect me, that they do this, they do that. For me it was not respect, this is why I take this decision I regret.
"I apologised to my teammates for the situation, I did a post, an Instagram, I regret leaving from the stadium. I regret my teammates know what I felt, and I said to them, apologised, but in the same way, I don't regret to take the decisions to not come on… The coach didn’t have respect for me. So this is why the relationship, it’s in that way. He keep saying in the press that he come to me, he like me blah, blah, blah but that it’s only for the press. 100%.”
Finally, he added: “If you don’t have respect for me, I'm never going to have respect for you."
Watch Piers Morgan Uncensored: 90 Minutes with Ronaldo at TalkTV :: Unavailable or www.youtube.com/piersmorganuncensored.
