ITV pundit Gary Neville harshly criticized Cristiano Ronaldo following Portugal’s 6-1 win over Switzerland in their World Cup last-16 clash, calling his behavior childish.
The 37-year-old made headlines before the match when he started on the bench as his Portugal teammates put in a sensational performance to beat Switzerland and set up a quarter-final clash against Morocco.
Ronaldo’s misery was further compounded when his replacement, Goncalo Ramos, scored a tremendous hat-trick and the 21-year-old’s performance cemented his place in the top 11 for the next round.
After the final whistle, the superstar was seen walking off the pitch as his teammates celebrated victory with the fans and Gary Neville was very critical of this type of behavior from Ronaldo on tonight’s ITV broadcast, which has been a regular occurrence on the last few. months.
? Cristiano Ronaldo walks ‘straight off’ the pitch at full time as Portugal players celebrate with fans pic.twitter.com/FxaRtrL8cL
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) December 6, 2022
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Gary Neville harshly criticizes Cristiano Ronaldo after Portugal’s 6-1 win
Speaking about Ronaldo after Portugal’s win over Switzerland, Neville said via Sunday World: “Well, what happened at United, the suggestion was, it was because (Erik) Ten Hag was trying to make a move on him, he’s trying to establish his authority.
“This is a coach (Santos) who has had an incredible relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo for eight years.
“And there are many Cristiano Ronaldo fans who are not willing to tell him the truth. I think he needs to hear the truth, that it’s turning out to be a bit of a scruffy ending.
“The petulance, the stomping, the sulking has to stop because it doesn’t reflect well on him at all.
“His long-term legacy is established, it is protected. He is one of the great players of all time, but in the short term he has to do much better, because is the Juventus manager wrong?
“Did the Manchester United manager make a mistake? And now the Portugal coach is wrong? There are three of them who have now done the same with him.”
