Wayne Rooney was asked for his opinion on who should start, who should sit on the bench and who shouldbe excluded from Lionel Messi, Harry Kane and Cristiano Ronaldo. The two former Manchester United teammates have made headlines after Ronaldo’s “explosive” interview with Piers Morgan.
In the two-part special, the Portugal international made accusations against the Glazers, Erik ten Hag and his former teammates, among many other things. United have reported ly begun the process of terminating his contract.
One team-mate he took issue with in particular was Rooney, despite the pair playing alongside each other in a highly successful era for the Red Devils. Ronaldo hinted that the Englishman was somewhat jealous of him because he is “still playing at the highest level” while Rooney has retired.
When asked which starter should go down, who should stay on the bench and not Messi, Kane and Ronaldo at all, he answered (via Viacoml8 Sports): “I would have to start Messi. I would put Harry Kane on the bench and leave Ronaldo out… he’s not even playing for his club” Wayne Rooney has responded to Cristiano Ronaldo’s comments in his explosive interview with Piers Morgan. Ronaldo addressed what he perceived as criticism from Rooney in the media after Morgan’s mouthpiece asked if the Portuguese captain had more pounds in the bank or more followers on Instagram.
“That’s a good question! Probably similar!” He said in his reply to Morgan. Morgan then added: “I’m just trying to understand how Wayne Rooney can hate you even more.” This prompted the 37-year-old to reply: “Not only him, imagine the other rats who will criticize me too, but it’s good to still be No. 1”
Ronaldo also criticized Rooney more directly in the interview and said: “Maybe [it’s jealousy]. Maybe – because he ended his career in his 30s. I’m still playing at a high level; I’m not going to say I’m prettier than him, which is true.”
Rooney offered his response to the comments at the Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai, where the former England captain received the player’s career award. He told CNN: “Well, listen, Cristiano Ronaldo isa fantastic player and, as Ive said before, he and [Lionel Messi are the two best players probably in history. “And, again, it’s not a criticism. What I said is that age gets old for everyone and Cristiano is obviously feeling this and it’s hard for you to accept what I said.. Obviously he did an interview that went global. A bit strange, some of the comments are strange there, but I’m sure Manchester United will deal with it once they’ve seen the full interview and they’ll take whatever action they need to take.”