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Cristiano Ronaldo and Gary Neville’s ongoing feud is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon according to the pair’s former Manchester United team mate Rio Ferdinand. The Sky Sports pundit was intentionally blanked by the Portugal captain during the Red Devils’ 1-0 win over West Ham this weekend after the Englishman was highly critical of his old friend.
Ronaldo has become an increasingly unpopular presence at Old Trafford in recent weeks after his refusal to come on as a substitute during the 2-0 win over Tottenham. The 37-year-old was disciplined by Erik ten Hag, who banished him to the reserves for the rest of the week but that did not stop Neville from criticising his former team mate, telling him he should leave for good of the club.
The forward has since returned to the first team earning his first Premier League start following the incident against West Ham this weekend but it appears he has not forgiven the ex-defender for his comments. Ronaldo shared a warm embrace with Louis Saha and Jamie Redknapp who were pitchside for Sky Sports for the fixture, leaving an awkward-looking Neville hanging.
Now, Ferdinand has weighed in on the incident between his two former colleagues claiming their relationship is over as Ronaldo will reject any attempts of reconciliation.
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“I don’t think Cristiano is taking that call (if Neville calls him),” Ferdinand told Vibe with Five. “Knowing Cristiano it’s gone isn’t it. You’ve said what you said and believe what you believe.
“There’s many ways you can look at this. he has blanked him it’s pre-meditated 100%. If my man is out there he isn’t getting a bar of love from me. He put it on him like that and Nev was standing there going ‘Ah god please say hello, please, please’. It didn’t happen for him
“I see why people are saying he didn’t need to do that but from a player’s perspective, no player is happy when a pundit is criticising them.
“They were team-mates but they aren’t people that would share texts or stuff like that. And Cristiano respects Gary as well. He respected him as one of the senior players at the club 100%. He would use that as fuel.”
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Ferdinand has gone on to forge a successful career in punditry, becoming one of the faces of BT Sport since his retirement. Despite this, the 43-year-old argued he would act the same way if a reporter had spoken the same way that Neville had
“When I was a player and you ask me how would I react to criticism. Constructive criticism is fine. If someone says I ain’t playing well or should sell me, I would use that as fuel and hold that.
“That would be some negative energy in there for me. That competitive edge I don’t know what it is. If I saw that reporter I would pie him the same as Cristiano did.”
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