I listened to Rio Ferdinand’s entire ill-fated defence of Cristiano Ronaldo and I have a lot to say about what the Manchester United legend shared on the matter.
Look, let’s address this right now: I love what Cristiano Ronaldo did for the Premier League team during his first spell at Old Trafford and history won’t rewrite itself.
I wish I could speak more fondly about the 41-year-old Manchester United legend’s second spell at the Red Devils, but it didn’t diminish his overall legacy at the club.
However, Rio Ferdinand tossing his hat into the ring to come to his former United teammate’s rescue is a hill that only one other person is willing to die on right now.
Rio Ferdinand is mirroring Piers Morgan’s energy around Cristiano Ronaldo when there is no defence for the Man Utd legend
Speaking on his podcast, Rio Ferdinand tried his best to put up a case for both sides on how Cristiano Ronaldo has handled himself after he quit the Portugal national team. While I can see the defence that he is trying to put up, I felt that former Manchester United star Ferdinand walked himself right into a corner.
“For all the haters of Ronaldo and the people that try and throw stones at him when you think, like, [the] guy’s done so much,” he said on Rio Ferdinand Presents.
“It’s like, trust that he’s… Yes, he’s got an ego. I think he’d tell you that himself, but he’s not stupid. And the fact that he said he wanted to retire at the end of the World Cup says a lot about him, his humility.
“And I think it puts to bed a lot of the people that have said, ‘Oh, it’s all about him. He just wants to be the guy that wants to play all the time regardless of what?’ No, he offered to retire. He was going to walk away from the national team as much as he loves it.”
I think Ferdinand understands he is boxed into a corner for trying to make a defence for Ronaldo — probably out of blind loyalty to his former teammate rather than anything else. However, I was left scratching my head when he admitted that Ronaldo has an “ego” and his defence around the 41-year-old Portuguese forward offering to “retire.”
Let’s be real: we all expected Ronaldo to not only play in his final World Cup tournament in the summer, but also to retire from international duty. It is not even coming from the position of a ‘hater.’ I have seen Ronaldo pour his blood, sweat and tears into Portugal, but the tears are how this story is going to unfortunately end now.
I felt that Ferdinand might try to come out and be more of the voice of reason about the situation involving Al Nassr captain Ronaldo and Portugal boss Jorge Jesus. However, the 47-year-old former TNT Sports pundit has put himself in the same lonely corner as the insufferable Piers Morgan when it comes to Ronaldo.
It is actually difficult to understand where Piers Morgan’s loyalty to Ronaldo comes from at times, but the 61-year-old former Good Morning Britain presenter didn’t do himself any favours with his defence of the situation.
“It’s never about money or fame or ego,” he said on Football Uncensored, as per talkSPORT.
“But actually the key component to his make-up is respect and honesty. Even though it’s a long statement, the reason I liked it was [that] he laid out in painstaking detail exactly what went on there.”
Just like Ferdinand, Morgan walked himself into the same ill-fated direction of trying to say it’s not about ‘ego.’ However, the large consensus of football fans, whether on social media or in the comments section of different articles, would seem to argue otherwise.
Humility comes with putting one’s ego aside and Ronaldo’s implosion with Jorge Jesus and Portugal has shown a side to him that has never looked its best for such a legendary player. It’s a shame where Ronaldo finds himself with Portugal and one can only hope the Real Madrid and Man Utd legend can find a proper way to bow out of the international stage.
from United In Focus https://ift.tt/d6y2fRa