In a recent interview with Piers Morgan, Cristiano Ronaldo discussed a variety of topics from the World Cup to Donald Trump. However, he also mentioned his relationships with Wayne Rooney and Sir Alex Ferguson.
Since departing from Manchester United in 2022, Cristiano Ronaldo has been thriving in the Saudi Arabian league, serving as the league’s poster boy and a key asset in its mission to expand popularity and improve standards on the pitch, attracting more fans and talent.
In the summer of 2024, Cristiano created his own YouTube channel, which he uses as a platform to invite a diverse range of guests to discuss his career and life.
The channel has become an excellent platform for Ronaldo to express himself about anything, whenever he feels the need to.
Taking inspiration from his former strike partner, Wayne Rooney has also recently started his own show, a BBC podcast with the same aims, giving himself a platform to express his opinions on current football-related affairs.
Ronaldo’s relationship with Rooney
The relationship between United’s dynamic duo of the past has been a peculiar situation to understand; both have expressed both positivity and negativity towards each other in the past, making it difficult to gauge the truth.
However, in an interview on Rio Ferdinand‘s podcast, Wayne cleared the air on the narrative that has been circling the two stars for a while.
“People think I hate him, I love him,” Rooney said of his former teammate. “I think he’s an absolute genius. I love Cristiano and playing with him. I think just because I’ve said that I think Messi is better than Ronaldo, people think I don’t like Cristiano.”
In response to these quotes from Wayne, in a recent interview with Piers Morgan, Cristiano was asked about his former teammate’s claims. “No problem, I’m not mad with that. It’s okay, for me you can choose whatever you want.”
Cristiano was also asked if the two were ‘friends’. “When we used to play, we had a good relationship, not ‘friends’.”
“In football, I don’t have friends that come to my house for dinner, when I mean friends, it’s a different word, for me, but our relationship was good.”
He then goes on to mention Rio Ferdinand and his relationship with him, doing so as an attempt to prove that the kind of relationship he has with Wayne isn’t personal. Cristiano does not see many people in the football world as a close ‘friend’.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s impact on Ronaldo
In the interview with Piers Morgan, Cristiano was also asked about his former boss, Sir Alex Ferguson, and what his current relationship with him is like.
“When I was there in Manchester, I spoke more with him, he used to come to my house for a tea, he is a good man and a person that I will always have in my heart, as he is a person who really helped me in my life and in my career.”
Piers went on to ask him if he saw Sir Alex as a father figure, due to the loss of his father when he was at United.
“A father in football? Yes, a guy who guided me. He was a guy who always maintained his word, and what he said, he promised. A very good man, and I respect him a lot.”
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It is clear how important Ferguson is to Ronaldo, and this has been evident for many years, as the player consistently reminds the media of his admiration for his former boss.
Ferguson has followed his career for many years since retiring, attending all of the players’ Champions League final matches, and famously giving the star a warm embrace after his triumph of winning the Euros in 2016 for Portugal. The two have a very special bond, a father-son relationship in football.
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