Cristiano Ronaldo: Why did Man Utd star blank Gary Neville? | OneFootball

Cristiano Ronaldo was accused of blanking Gary Neville live on Sky Sports ahead of Manchester United’s Premier League clash against West Ham.

Before kick-off, Ronaldo was filmed greeting Louis Saha and Jamie Redknapp but ran off without acknowledging Neville standing beside them.

The Portuguese superstar blanked fellow Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher in a similar fashion earlier this season.

Carragher clearly enjoyed Neville being given the same treatment, immediately tweeting: “Welcome to the, blanked by Ronaldo club.”

Why did Ronaldo blank Neville?

Given the Liverpool connection, it wasn’t too much of a surprise that Ronaldo decided to ignore Carragher back in August.

But why blank a Manchester United legend in Gary Neville?

Well, Neville has been very outspoken recently regarding Ronaldo’s behaviour at Old Trafford.

After storming down the tunnel whilst a substitute against Tottenham a couple of weeks ago, Ronaldo was dropped for the trip to Chelsea.

It led to a fascinating debate between former United players, Roy Keane and Neville.

What did Neville say about Ronaldo?

While Keane was on Ronaldo’s side, Neville wasn’t very complimentary and admitted that he wanted him to leave the club ‘next week’.

“For me, Erik ten Hag had no choice, no option,” Neville said. “Cristiano’s left the ground twice, you can’t do that, his Instagram post which said I respect my teammates and sometimes in the heat of the moment you do something wrong. On the eve of pre-season, he asked for a transfer, he’s building up a list of things. It’s a messy end and Ten Hag is trying to establish control.

“I always think about the fact, Ronaldo has played 100s of games where players have had to watch him, you have to make sure you’re in the changing room, shaking players’ hands then you have it out with the manager separately. It’s not about Erik ten Hag. He had no other choice but the players in the dressing room had to have some action against them.

“Lots of players have watched him, now he’s had to watch them, your careers like a mountain, you’re in for a few games, out the team, get in then you get to the top of the mountain then you have to accept whether you play for a big club and accept less games. Or you go to a lesser club and play all the time and Cristiano is going to have to go to somewhere else that’s going to play him every week because he can’t accept being on the bench. That’s fine.

“End it this week or create a truce to get to the World Cup, it’s not doing him any favours. Leaving the dressing room before full-time, that’s not what he does, if you’re doing things like that you’ve got to leave.

“There’s not many Manchester United fans who would have Cristiano Ronaldo in the starting 11.

“They [Manchester United] score more goals without him and they get more points without him. That’s a fact. He’s coming to the end of his career, Manchester United are a better team without him, he’s just got to get used to it or leave. I think they’re better without him.”

“He walked off against Everton after being left out by Ole in one of his first games, shaking his head at the end of the game. He was doing that with the body language to Rashford, he knows what he’s doing. He’s experienced and players of that power have a real negative impact when they do it.

“The influence they have on other players is really negative, they’re in an influential position. I love him to bits but you can’t defend him leaving the ground twice.

“I hope he leaves next week!”

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