Cristiano Ronaldo interview LIVE: Manchester United and Portugal star tells all to Piers Morgan
Latest updates as the second part of Cristiano Ronaldo’s explosive interview is aired
Cristiano Ronaldo felt Manchester United had 'cut his legs' and did not want him to 'shine' or listen to advice as his relationship with the club deteriorated. In his revealing TalkTV interview that has been released over the last few days, the Portugal forward claimed United were trying to force him out and criticised boss Erik ten Hag while also saying Red Devils owners the Glazer family do not care about the club. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner said he did not respect Dutchman ten Hag, who took over at Old Trafford in the summer, and claimed a number of individuals at United were trying to push him to leave. In Thursday night's second instalment of the full interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Ronaldo gave further details of how he felt he had been "betrayed" as his return to United went sour. "When I arrived at Manchester United, I always be available to help the team to do the good things, to put in the right spots, to compete with the best teams," Ronaldo said. "But it's hard when they cut your legs and they don't like you to shine and they don't listen to your advice. "I think I have words to advise to the club. I think I can help a lot, but when the infrastructure is not good..."
Cristiano Ronaldo interview
What of his future at Manchester United? “The fans are always in my heart. Nobody’s perfect. I will always admit my mistakes, but I don’t know to tell you right now [what will happen] after the World Cup.”
Morgan shouts. Another break.
Cristiano Ronaldo interview
Piers Morgan hijacks the interview to take aim at Gary Neville for criticising Ronaldo’s stadium walk-out.
Cristiano Ronaldo interview
Ronaldo accuses the Glazers of not caring about the club on a sporting level, only commercially. “You have some things inside the club which don’t help Manchester reach the top level like City, Liverpool, even Arsenal. In my opinion it will be hard for Manchester to be at the top of the game in the next two or three years. As Picasso says, you have to destroy it to rebuilt it.”
Cristiano Ronaldo interview
Ronaldo is now complaining about being suspended by the club for three days. “It’s too much. They make fire for the press which is really disappointing.”
Morgan says Ten Hag has made “constant attempts to disrespect you”. More even-handed journalism. “You think they are trying to get rid of you?”
“I felt betrayed,” Ronaldo says.
Cristiano Ronaldo interview
Ronaldo says he understands why he wasn’t picked at the start of the season after missing preseason but then “other things happened that people don’t know about”.
He accuses Erik ten Hag of lacking empathy. “I don’t want to criticise him, he can have a different opinion to me, pick different players, that’s OK.” He goes on to say he felt the reason Ten Hag gave for not bringing him on against Man City (Ten Hag said it was because he respected Ronaldo too much to play him for only a few minutes) was an “excuse”, and that is why he then refused to come on and walked away from the stadium when Ten Hag tried to bring him on with a few minutes to go against Spurs.
“I regret leaving the stadium. But he didn’t respect me.”
Cristiano Ronaldo interview
So far there’s been plenty of Morgan saying what he thinks of Ronaldo (”I don’t think you do it for the money, you do it to win”) to which Ronaldo nods along heartily. The most notable moment has been Ronaldo accusing the Manchester United hierarchy of not believing his daughter was ill in the summer, though he doesn’t really go into detail on why he thinks that.
Cristiano Ronaldo interview
Morgan shouts at the screen some more, and that’s a break.
Cristiano Ronaldo interview
Obviously Ronaldo is speaking in his second language, so might need a little help or prompting, but Morgan is regularly putting words in his interviewee’s mouth to which Ronaldo responds: “Exactly”. The sycophancy is quite something.
Cristiano Ronaldo interview
Ronaldo is explaining why he didn’t turn up to preseason training at Man Utd. “My little daughter had bronchitis. People forget that I’m a human being, I passed through a difficult moment. I spoke with the director and president of Manchester United, and they kind of didn’t believe that something was going wrong, which made me feel bad. They doubt my words. I thought it was not fair to leave my family for football.”
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