Gary Neville has brushed off Cristiano Ronaldo’s public snub by claiming he isn’t behaving like a Manchester United player.
Ronaldo’s conduct has been a source of constant discussion in recent months as the Portuguese veteran continues to risk damaging his Old Trafford legacy. The 37-year-old returned to the Red Devils to much fanfare last summer, but his second stint with the club has backfired spectacularly.
Despite finishing as United’s top scorer last season, they missed out on the Champions League, leaving the forward to push for an exit during the summer window. That move didn’t materialise, but the discontent has continued to fester with Erik ten Hag appearing to see his best role as a super sub.
Tensions came to a head earlier this month when Ronaldo refused to come off the bench during the win over Tottenham, before storming down the tunnel before the full-time whistle. Ten Hag subsequently axed the veteran for the trip to Chelsea, as well as banishing from first-team training for three days.
However, after crisis talks at Carrington last week, Ronaldo was back in the squad and back in the starting XI for the 1-0 win over West Ham. Unsurprisingly, there was plenty of attention on his return with Sky cameras capturing the moment he came onto the pitch for pre-match warmups.
Even that walk made headlines, with Ronaldo refusing to acknowledge his former United teammate Neville in light of some forthright comments on his situation. Last week Neville suggested that the two parties should go their separate ways as soon as possible, branding Ronaldo’s conduct as “unacceptable”.
His Sky Sports colleagues were quick to mock Neville with Carragher ‘welcoming him to the club’ after suffering the same fate earlier in the season. Micah Richards then joined in the ribbing, interviewing the United legend and putting the video out for his social media followers.
During the clip, Richards approaches Neville - who was standing alongside Roy Keane - and asks how it felt to be snubbed by Ronaldo. Neville laughed off the jibe before making the serious point that he hasn’t been acting like a player that has spent time playing under the famous United teams led by Sir Alex Ferguson.
“Just tell me something though,” he said to his former skipper Keane. “He’s watching everything…I think if I had 570 million followers on Instagram I wouldn’t be arsed about Gary Neville.”
Pushed on the fact he is a former teammate, Neville shook his head and added: “I know, but he doesn’t behave like someone who’s played with me, or him [pointing at Keane] for that matter.”
Ronaldo failed to find the net against the Hammers, bui Ten Hag was pleased with his display. "I think he did quite well," Ten Hag said. "(He did) what we expect; lead the pressing.
"We have the quality to score goals, but attacking football effectiveness we have to improve that. But we are going in the direction, but being a threat is a long way to go."
