Jamie Carragher has criticised Rio Ferdinand for 'embarrassing' himself with his defence of Cristiano Ronaldo. The veteran forward has been at the centre of a storm this week after walking out on the Portuguese national team camp following a row with Jorge Jesus.
Carragher's Criticism of Ferdinand
His former Manchester United teammate Rio Ferdinand has been one of his biggest defenders during the ongoing argument. In assessing the situation, Carragher has hit out at Ferdinand for his behaviour.
Speaking on The Overlap Daily, the former Liverpool defender said: “People think it’s good to be close to people in the game, but this is where it becomes a problem.
“People like Piers Morgan and Rio Ferdinand, who are big people in the media whether you like them or not, are embarrassing themselves with the nonsense that they’re coming out with because they know Ronaldo. You can know someone and try to look after them, but you cannot defend the indefensible.”
History of Spat and Neville's Take
It is not the first time that Carragher has slammed Ferdinand, with the pair having been drawn into a bitter social media spat back in May this year ahead of a clash between Liverpool and Manchester United.
Carragher’s colleague Gary Neville has also given his take on Ronaldo’s situation and suggested that his lengthy statement might actually have made things worse - albeit he believes Ronaldo could yet get supporters back onside.
He said: “My view was that I would never criticise Ole Gunnar Solskjær because he conducted himself with great class, whether he was winning or losing. With Cristiano, it’s difficult because I love him, but I can’t watch what happened at United in his second period and then see him make a statement like that without saying something. He [Ronaldo] has to be pulled up on that and told [that it isn’t acceptable].
“The problem is, who is going to tell him? He isn’t going to listen to me or you [Jamie Carragher], but I can’t approve of that statement or pretend it was a good thing to do. If you love Ronaldo, it makes him more difficult to like; if you don’t like him, it makes you dislike him even more.
“I don’t think it’s irretrievable. In another year, when he has retired, we will look back at his greatness and his football, and people might not remember this ending.
“When you have a billion pounds in the bank, the achievements he has had and the power he has, you feel you’re unbreakable, you feel you’re unstoppable. You think you can dictate to a federation or a manager what they should say. I’m glad the manager stood his ground. If he had read those eight points out [in Ronaldo’s social media statement], he [Ronaldo] would have lost a lot of his soul.”
Ronaldo is now back in action for Al-Nassr after walking out on the Portugal national team.
