Gary Neville has joked that he has not yet spoken to former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo following the Portuguese international's exit from Manchester United.
The Reds parted company with the 37-year-old frontman following his controversial interview with Piers Morgan, with Ronaldo having criticised Erik ten Hag, the Glazers, the club's facilities, ex-teammates, today's young generation of footballers and more. He is the only player at this year's World Cup without a club following his exit from United - with his contract terminated by mutual agreement last week.
Ronaldo slammed former teammate Neville - amongst other players - during his TV interview insisting the former right-back is 'not my friend', and the latter has revealed that he is yet to talk to the ex-Real Madrid man following his departure from Old Trafford.
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On Monday, Neville appeared on ITV ahead of Brazil's World Cup group stage match against Switzerland. Host Laura Woods saw it as a great opportunity to jokingly ask the former United man about his current relationship with Ronaldo.
When asked if the 37-year-old had 'answered his phone calls', Neville responded: "You’re cheeky you, aren’t you? My phone’s not rung let alone from Cristiano. He’s unbelievable, he’s responded to criticism, he doesn’t like what’s happened in Manchester.
"He’s in his homeland, Portugal adore him, the relationship with his manager is strong and I think we need Ronaldo, Messi, Mbappe all coming to head in this tournament because something’s going to have to give at some point. I watched the Portugal game the other day and I thought the balance was awful.
"He had Bruno Fernandes on the right with Cristiano up front, that doesn’t work we’ve seen that at Manchester United, when Leao came on and Joao Felix played with Carvalho and Bruno moved inside with Silva they looked pretty good and that’s the way forward for Portugal.
"They’re a good team with a man up front with a monster mentality, he’ll think he’s lifting that World Cup and he’ll believe that and that will transmit to the rest of the team, he’s done that in the Champions League with Real Madrid, with Barcelona dominating, he won five Champions League’s there, he delivers in the big moment.
"Nothing will surprise me but I think it’s right he left United and right United let him go."
The duo played together on 138 occasions during their time together in Manchester, with the pair combining for three goals in total.
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