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Manchester United legends Roy Keane and Gary Neville had a heated argument over Cristiano Ronaldo on Saturday, following the Red Devils’ last-gasp draw with Chelsea. The Portuguese was dropped from the squad after refusing to come on against Tottenham this week, but Keane claims that worse has happened at Old Trafford over the years, dragging up sagas involving Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand.
The relationship between Ronaldo and Erik ten Hag was strained almost immediately as the veteran forward supposedly asked to leave the club during the summer. A transfer never materialised but he has had to settle for a reduced role this campaign, despite his five Ballons d’Or and glistening trophy cabinet.
Ronaldo supposedly refused to come on from the bench in a 2-0 win over Tottenham on Wednesday, instead storming down the tunnel minutes before the full-time whistle. As a result, Ten Hag dropped him from the matchday squad for Saturday’s showdown with Chelsea and the Portuguese looks set to be frozen out for the foreseeable future.
Neville seemingly sparked a fire inside Keane by claiming that a player acting like Ronaldo ‘has to leave’ the club. With the back-and-forth occurring on Sky Sports, Keane responded: “Gary, there’s players at Man United who have done a lot worse than what he’s done.
“Where do you want me to get started? Scholesy, great lad… let me finish. Scholesy refused to play at Man United. We said nothing to him. Ronaldo will be fined for this, he’ll find his way back. Rio Ferdinand missed a drugs test, he got banned for eight months.”
Both former players agreed that Ronaldo’s actions warranted punishment of some sort, but Neville insisted that the 37-year-old was in no position to moan about game time due to the notion that United are a better team without him.
The fierce debate between Neville and Keane came after United fought to a hard-earned point against Chelsea. Neither side was at their best and it seemed as though the Premier League heavyweight showdown would end 0-0 before a late flurry injected life into the game.
Jorginho had a tough time in midfield but looked to have sealed a statement victory for Graham Potter with a late penalty but Casemiro had other ideas, looping a last-gasp header past Kepa Arrizabalaga in stoppage time to tie up the score at 1-1.
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