Bomb interview and few goals: CR7 arrives for the last World Cup at war with the club

Cristiano Ronaldo, at 37, arrives at his likely last contested World Cup. Little used at Manchester United this season, the Portuguese made explosive statements last Sunday to an English TV show.

One of the targets of CR7’s verbal machine gun was coach Erik ten Hag, whom the player said he had no respect for. The Dutchman did not like the statements and, according to the international media, he has already told the board that he does not have the Portuguese for the rest of the season, regardless of whether there is a replacement or not.

CR7’s squabbles with the team began in the middle of the year, when, after the arrival of the new coach, the player’s minutes on the field were reduced. The Portuguese star was out for much of the pre-season.

According to him, this happened because he was hospitalized with his daughter. At the time, however, the international press reported that businessman Jorge Mendes was looking for a new destination for the ace, but he was not successful. That mission resurfaces now.

In the bombastic interview, on the eve of the Cup, Ronaldo also said that United’s owners do not care about the sport, only about marketing, and that he felt betrayed by the club and by some top hats. He even left for the physical structure of the club, which the striker said had stopped in time.

🇧🇷Progress has been zero since Sir Alex Ferguson left. I didn’t see evolution in the club. Nothing had changed,” he said.

This heavy atmosphere also extends to the Portuguese national team. A video shows a cold handshake between Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes. The supposed tension took on a more serious air precisely because they were teammates at Manchester United.

The selection was agile in putting warm cloths on the story. Midfielder João Mário gave an interview and said that the act was nothing more than a joke between CR7 and Bruno Fernandes. “I was in the dressing room at that moment and saw the images. It was a joke between them, curiously because Bruno was one of the last to arrive, and Cristiano asked if he had come by boat (laughs). It was a joke between them, they play together”, said.

The fact is that Cristiano Ronaldo’s numbers are down this season. He was listed in 18 games for the Red Devils, where he scored just three goals and provided two assists. On the day the interview began to be released, the team had beaten Fulham 2-1 – the Portuguese was out of the game because he was sick.

He was also dropped from the group at the end of October when he refused to take the field at the end of the game against Tottenham.

In this World Cup, in addition to Fernando Santos’ locker room management, which needs to circumvent all the controversy, Cristiano Ronaldo’s farewell can bring him another record. He is currently tied with Pele, Seeler and Klose with goals scored in four editions of the tournament. If he scores in Qatar, CR7 will be the only one to score in five World Cups.

Overall, however, the Portuguese is not the top scorer expected. In the 2006, 2010 and 2014 editions, he only scored one goal. In 2018, four, including a hat-trick against Spain.

However, when it comes to Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo, João Mário knew how to sum it up well: it is always CR7 who is in the spotlight.

“Whenever I come to the national team, the first questions are almost all about Ronaldo, it’s nothing new for anyone.”