“Not only him, imagine the rest of the rats” - When Cristiano Ronaldo hit out at ex-Manchester United teammates in controversial interview
Cristiano Ronaldo, among many others, also hit out at former Manchester United teammate Wayne Rooney during his infamous interview with Piers Morgan in 2022. The Portuguese forward claimed that many of his former teammates were 'rats' for criticizing his sub-par performances that year.
In the interview, Morgan quizzed Ronaldo whether he had more millions in the bank or more Instagram followers. When the former Real Madrid star said he had more in the bank, the British presenter admitted that he was looking to find more ways to make Rooney jealous.
The forward was quick to call his former Manchester United teammate a 'rat' along with others and said (via Manchester Evening News):
"Not only him, imagine the rest of the rats they are going to criticise me too, but it is good to still be the number one."
Ronaldo went on and added:
"It was one year ago, or six months ago. We're here in my house, he picked up his kids here and he invited (son) Cristiano to go to his house to play football. I don't know why he criticises me so badly... probably because he finished his career and I'm still playing at a high level. I'm not going to say that I'm looking better than him. Which is true. They are not my friends, they were colleagues. We played together, they're not coming here, we're not having dinner together."
Cristiano Ronaldo had his Manchester United contract terminated by mutual consent shortly after the interview. He had critcized the club, the owners and manager Erik ten Hag before moving to join Al Nassr on a free transfer in December 2022.
Wayne Rooney responded to comments from Cristiano Ronaldo
Wayne Rooney spoke to CNN about the comments from his former Manchester United teammate, Cristiano Ronaldo. He admitted that all players, bar Lionel Messi, would be jealous of the Portuguese forward.
He said:
"Cristiano Ronaldo's a fantastic player and, as I've said before, he and Messi are the two best players probably ever to play the game. And, again, it's not a criticism. What I've said is age comes to all of us, and Cristiano is obviously feeling that and he's finding it hard to deal with that.
"Obviously, he's done an interview that's gone global. Bit strange, some of the comments are strange in there but I'm sure Manchester United will deal with it once they've seen the full interview and they'll take whatever action they need to take."
Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo played 205 matches together at Manchester United. The two combined for 25 goals, with the Portuguese assisting the Englishman 14 times.