Before Ronaldo's interview dropped, the last high profile player to launch a scathing attack on a club while still on the club's payroll is Romelu Lukaku. Needless to say, the Belgian was punished by then Chelsea manager, Thomas Tuchel before being shipped back to Milan at a considerable loss to Chelsea. This is going to be a lot different.
Lukaku criticized the manager's tactics and the way he played him. In Ronaldo's interview with Piers Morgan, not only did he declared boldly that he has no single respect for current Manchester United manager, Erik Ten Hag, he launched a tirade at previous manager, Ralf Rangnick, gave Wayne Rooney a piece of his mind, boldly dragged the owner and executives under the bus, and then put the Manchester United institution to the sword.
In some quarters, Ronaldo will be applauded. Definitely, Van Gaal is somewhere at the moment trying to lecture someone as to why Ronaldo's rant is exactly what Manchester United deserves. Mourinho, the petty king, won't mention it openly but he's definitely laughing right now. He'll probably put a call through to his compatriot to show his support in the face of the impending media storm that is about to engulf Ronaldo.
I'm not the one to frown at a grown man's decision. However, in some cases sanity should prevail. Ronaldo cleared the air and spoke his mind, but what he just did is to put unnecessary spotlight on himself and his national teammates ahead of a very important international tournament. He'll probably be asked more questions about this interview during the World Cup than his performances. His teammates, especially Fernandes and Dalot will be under the microscope also as the media tries to understand whether they're for Ronaldo or for Manchester United.
As far as I'm concerned, he spoke the home truth. The club has regressed terribly in the last 10 years, with the regression epitomized by the decision to hand lads like Solksjær and Rangnick the managerial position on a platter of gold. However, I'm for Manchester United; always will be. The club was successful before Ronaldo was born, it will remain successful after he's gone.
Was I hurt by this interview? Hell, no. For all the love showered on this guy I've never really warmed up to him. He left for Madrid before his career peak, acting like a spoiled brat to force a move. If some of y'all doesn't remember, the image of him reacting angrily to substitutions just because he wanted a move to Madrid is still in the memory bank. He made it glaring that he wanted to leave so badly to the point all his teammates back then were aware of it. They joked about him playing as goalie on the night a Thiery Henry inspired Barca beat Madrid 6-2 at the Bernabeu.
Asides the beautiful football we witness on the pitch, the other side of football is dark, mysterious and full of lies. Of course, his PR team did a good job of feeding on the thirst for success of Manchester United fans to make it seem like he is the return king who spurned City's advance to return to United. When he joined I was never impressed with the business. Now, it's glaring that getting this dude is shaping up to be a very expensive mistake.
Ronaldo has drawn a line in the sand. It's safe to say he won't play for Manchester United again. Whatever it is he does with his career, he will never come close to the likes of Giggs, Scholes and Rooney as the Manchester United legends of this era. Those ones stayed and played their peak years for the team. He should go to Madrid and ask for his legendary right over there. I bet he's not even in the top 10 favourites of Madridistas!
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