Former Manchester United captain Antonio Valencia has expressed his disappointment about the manner in which Cristiano Ronaldo left the club.
United parted company with Ronaldo following his controversial interview with Piers Morgan. The 37-year-old criticised the club's owners, his then manager Erik ten Hag and several of his former teammates. Ronaldo, who had scored just three goals in all competitions this season prior to his Old Trafford exit, also claimed that he had been 'betrayed'.
The veteran frontman became a free agent during the World Cup in Qatar, but was unable to guide Portugal to glory as the European side exited the tournament at the quarter-finals stage. The 2016 Euros winners were knocked out by African side Morocco, who secured a 1-0 victory.
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Ronaldo was criticised for conducting an unauthorised interview with Morgan, and it quickly became clear that he would not be returning to the club after the tournament in the Middle East. However, ex-United man Valencia has suggested that he should not have left under a cloud.
"It was too bad Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United in the way he did. A player like him should leave a club by walking off the pitch to applause at a sold-out stadium. The people there loved him," Valencia wrote in his The Athletic column.
"The interview he gave recently was unfortunate. He’ll have his reasons for saying what he did, but I felt awful about the way he left the club. It hurt. I hope everything goes well for him at his new club. I wish Ronaldo nothing but the best."
Valencia never actually played alongside Ronaldo at Old Trafford, with the former Ecuadorian international joining the same summer that the Portuguese ace signed for Real Madrid.
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