England cricket legend Kevin Pietersen has defended Cristiano Ronaldo's decision to publicly air his grievances with Manchester United in an explosive interview with Piers Morgan on his Talk TV show.
In the interview, Ronaldo said he has "no respect" for manager Erik ten Hag "because he doesn't show respect for me", accused the club of trying to force him out and claimed some club chiefs "doubted" him when he informed them the reason he arrived late for pre-season was because his baby daughter was ill in hospital.
The interview has proved controversial and could lead to him being sacked by United, if the club's lawyers advise them that his behaviour is a serious enough breach of discipline. And former cricketer Pietersen has now weighed in, stating that he "sympathises" with Ronaldo "having been in a similar position".
Pietersen's international career famously came to a premature end after the 2013-14 Ashes series following a high-profile fallout with both his England teammates and ECB management.
Pietersen then released a tell-all book titled 'KP: The Autobiography' eight months after being sidelined by England, airing his grievances with the ECB and several former teammates.
As a result, the 42-year-old sees similarities between himself and Ronaldo and wrote on Twitter : "I've watched this CR story and having been in a similar position, I sympathise with him.
"People have NO IDEA what it's like to have constant lies and speculation written about them all the time. People having breaking points. Very easy to blame him but before you do, think…"
And Morgan, who is a close friend of Pietersen's, explained on talkSPORT, that Ronaldo approached him to do the interview because he "felt it was time to speak out". Morgan said: "He's been thinking about this for a while. I think it's no secret that he's felt a build-up of deep frustration about what's been happening at United over the last year.
"He felt it was time to speak out. He knows it was going to be incendiary, he knows this is going to rattle some cages, but he also feels that he should be doing this."
