[ad_1]
Gary Neville has lifted the lid on how Manchester United’s locker room reacted to Cristiano Ronaldo’s infamous 2006 World Cup feud with Wayne Roney.
English star Rooney saw red for a stamp on Portuguese Ricardo Carvalho in the tournament quarterfinals in Germany.
His United teammate Ronaldo was attacked after trying to influence the referee to steal Rooney’s red card, with the Portuguese superstar caught on camera winking at his bench as the Three Lions ace came down for the tunnel.
However, Neville insists that he does not blame Ronaldo for his actions, and has revealed how Sir Alex Ferguson called them in for confrontational conversations upon his return to Manchester.
(Image: DDP / AFP via Getty Images)
read more
Related Posts
When asked if the United stars were mad at Ronaldo, Neville told Sky Sports: “No, the first day in the preseason the manager called me into the office with Wayne and Cristiano to sit down.
“I wanted to see if there was a problem, a hangover. They were actually very good friends. They used to socialize those two together.”
“Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Cristiano and Wayne were very close to each other.”
(Image: PA)
Neville also compared the situation to that of David Beckham, who became a hated figure for some time after his expulsion at the 1998 World Cup.
Neville added: “And it actually felt like the whole country was against him, it felt like a David Beckham-type moment in our locker room, so there was something about England and Manchester United anyway, with England fans playing United players while playing for England, so there was no love lost there.
“I think when David Beckham returned from the World Cup in ’98, everyone joined him at United. It was the same with Cristiano in 2006. They all seemed to come together.”
(Image: John Peters / Manchester United via Getty)
“It seemed to help him in some way and show everyone was wrong. I think he likes to prove that people are wrong and it was from day one of the preseason.”
“They shook hands and said there was no problem. Wayne is efficient enough to know that ultimately on a soccer field anything goes.”
“We had that mentality at United. You try to do everything possible to win a game.”
“Cristiano was trying to win for his country, Wayne would not expect anything different and neither would I.”
[ad_2]
