Gary Neville has leapt to the defence of ex-teammate Cristiano Ronaldo after Portugal were knocked out of the World Cup by a resilient Morocco side.
Ronaldo came on under fire from all angles for his performances at the tournament and even lost his starting position in the squad as he fell out of favour with Fernando Santos.
However, Gary Neville has said that the striker’s poor performances were down to the team not playing to Ronaldo’s strengths in the same way that Argentina do with his rival Lionel Messi.
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Gary Neville claims Cristiano Ronaldo was let down by Fernando Santos https://t.co/gh85DfcwaF
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Speaking to SkySports, Neville explained: “Messi has been managed by Argentina in terms of how the rest of the group have come around him, and they completely play to his strengths “Whereas with Portugal and with Santos having known Cristiano for so long, I thought he’d have done the same.
“I actually felt sorry for Cristiano in the end, when he was walking down that tunnel in tears. That’s never a good image. You know he’s thinking, ‘this is it, I’m never going to play in this tournament again’. I wouldn’t class it as an underachievement from Ronaldo, I’d say it’s an overachievement that he’s doing what he’s doing at the age of 37, it’s just the way it ended with him being out of the team.”
Whether you are a fan of Cristiano Ronaldo or not, it is sad to see the career of such a great player spiralling towards a rather bitter end.