CNN
—
Cristiano Ronaldo has been the subject of a lot of criticism this season and he clearly listened.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner snubbed former team-mate Gary Neville ahead of Manchester United’s Premier League game against West Ham on Sunday following recent criticism from the TV pundit.
Neville had criticized Ronaldo’s “unacceptable” behavior in United’s recent league win over Tottenham Hotspur, where the 37-year-old appeared to refuse to come on as a substitute before leaving the game early.
The Portugal international was then dropped by manager Erik Ten Hag and made to train with the youth team for three days before returning to the first team.
In the build-up to Sunday’s game, Ronaldo walked over to Sky Sports pundits, giving former team-mate Louis Saha and fellow pundit Jamie Redknapp a hug, but failed to recognize Neville, with whom he had played during his first spell at United.
Neville is not the first pundit to receive the cold shoulder from Ronaldo, who has found himself in and out of the United squad this season.
Another Sky Sports pundit of Neville, Jamie Carragher, has already received similar treatment and took to Twitter to support his colleague: “Welcome to Ronaldo’s club @GNev2.”
In a video posted to Twitter by Sky Sport pundit Micah Richards, Neville appeared to laugh at the snub and said he wouldn’t mind his own comments ‘if I had 570 million followers on Instagram’ .
It’s been a rollercoaster season for Ronaldo.
During pre-season he was criticized for leaving a friendly game before the final whistle before hitting back on Instagram.
The Portuguese superstar said in the post: “They know the truth when they talk in a few weeks. The media tells lies.
“I have a notebook and in the last 100 months that I’ve done, only 5 of them were right.”
At the time, the centre-forward was trying to force a departure from Old Trafford, a year after having what many thought was a fairy tale reunion with the Red Devils.
During the BBC’s Euro 2020 coverage last year, Rio Ferdinand – Ronaldo’s former team-mate and friend – told Gary Lineker that: “He’s a phenomenal player but someone who thinks to everything in the game to get the most out of himself.
“He’s a great example and he uses negativity as fuel. You (Lineker) say Messi is the better of the two. He’ll text me saying ‘why did he say that?’
“It’s his competitive nature and you need that to be the best.”
Ronaldo has scored just one goal in nine Premier League appearances this season and found himself below Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial in United’s attacking pecking order.
