Following recent criticism from the television pundit, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner snubbed former teammate Gary Neville ahead of Manchester United’s Premier League match against West Ham on Sunday.
Ronaldo’s “unacceptable” behavior in United’s recent league victory over Tottenham Hotspur, in which the 37-year-old appeared to refuse to come on as a substitute before leaving the game, was criticized by Neville.
Manager Erik Ten Hag then dropped the Portuguese international and ordered him to train with the youth team for three days before rejoining the first-team squad.
Manager Erik Ten Hag dropped the Portuguese international and ordered him to train with the youth team for three days before rejoining the first-team squad.
In the build-up to Sunday’s game, Ronaldo approached the Sky Sports pundits, hugging former teammate Louis Saha and fellow pundit Jamie Redknapp but ignoring Neville, with whom he played during his first spell at United.
Neville is not the first pundit to get the cold shoulder from Ronaldo, who has been in and out of the Manchester United team this season.
Jamie Carragher, Neville’s fellow Sky Sports pundit, has previously received similar treatment and took to Twitter to support his colleague: “Welcome to the @GNev2 club, blanked by Ronaldo.”
Neville appeared to laugh off the snub in a video posted on Twitter by Sky Sport pundit Micah Richards, saying he wouldn’t care about his own comments “if I had 570 million followers on Instagram.”