Manchester United do not accept two of the claims made by Cristiano Ronaldo in his interview with Piers Morgan, according to reports.
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The first installment of the two-part interview aired on Wednesday evening, with more to come on Thursday, but the big bombs had gone off earlier this week.
Ronaldo told Morgan that he didn’t have “respect” for the new manager Erik ten Hag as the former Ajax boss didn’t respect him.
He said: “I don’t have respect for him because he doesn’t show respect for me. If you don’t have respect for me, I’m never gonna have respect for you.”
The Portugal international also had a go at the lack of changes at Old Trafford, in terms of the facilities in particular, since he left for Madrid in 2009, saying the Glazers “don’t care” about “zero progress” being made.
“I knew Man United wasn’t the same but I didn’t see that it was such a big gap,” he explained.
“That was the thing that surprised me most, to be honest. Nothing changed. Even the gym, even the technology, the chefs. They have stopped in time, which surprised me a lot.
“I thought I would see different things but, unfortunately, I’ve seen many things that I used to see when I was 20 years old. At United, the progress was zero.”
According to Sky Sports, these two points in particular are the ones Manchester United have taken issue with.
Reporter Dharmesh Sheth tweeted: ‘Manchester United remain calm re: Ronaldo. No decisions until full interview aired. Told United don’t accept some of the criticism – notably lack of investment in facilities & lack of respect from manager.’
Asked about Ronaldo’s interview and the effect it could have on his Portugal team, manager Fernando Santos said: “This issue isn’t related to us, it isn’t related to the national team. The man, the player, decided to give an interview, like other athletes and men decide to do to discuss personal matters.
“This doesn’t spill out to the national team, as far as I know, he didn’t talk about the national team, so it’s a personal interview which we need to respect. These days tolerance is a buzz word and we need to respect what others think and say, provided it doesn’t impact what I do. None of my players have made a comment regarding the interview, at all.”
Santos also confirmed that Ronaldo didn’t need to notify him or the Portuguese FA before doing the interview.
He added: “Cristiano Ronaldo is a free man. The buzz and discussion (around him) is taking place outside the national team. It doesn’t impact us.”
