Cape Town — Cristiano Ronaldo remains in the eye of the social media storm hours before Portugal's last-16 match against Switzerland in Qatar on Tuesday.
Video footage, not seen before, taken from a scene at last Friday's impromptu Fifa-mandated mixed zone, surfaced on Tuesday afternoon. After Portugal's 2-1 loss at the hands of South Korea, Ronaldo was one of the players despatched to the zone and made available for questions from the media.
While Ronaldo was answering a question, an over-excited reporter interrupted an interview with a question, which was not audible on the video. With a stern look on his face, Ronaldo turned his eyes to the female reporter for a moment. It was a dirty look, and it raised a giggle from close-by media. It seemed he wanted to say: "Hey reporter, wait your turn!"
😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/8bnpVd8irB
— TC (@totalcristiano) December 3, 2022
For the past few weeks, Ronaldo was unable to escape the media glare both off and on the field. In Friday's match against Portugal, he was substituted late in the match and as he made his way off an opposition player chirped him, saying: "Hurry up, get off the field."
Ronaldo, very upset, shot back: "Shut up!"
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner took strong exception to the royal send-off and by the time he reached the touchline, it looked like Ronaldo was visibly upset at being substituted. Instead, the chirp from the South Korean had changed his demeanour.
The saga was a subject of great debate at every media opportunity that followed over the next few days, and even Portugal manager Fernando Santos revealed his annoyance at Ronaldo's attitude.
Nothing could have prepared him better for the media barrage than his controversial interview with Piers Morgan, the TV presenter. He launched attacks on Manchester United and their manager Erik ten Hag. It was the beginning of the end of Ronaldo's at Manchester United.
Ronaldo told the Glazer Family what no other United player has ever dared to.
He said: "The Glazers, the owners of the club, don't care about the club, professional sport."
IOL Sport