EXCLUSIVE
EXPLOSIVE
Piers Morgan reveals Cristiano Ronaldo ASKED HIM to do interview which has stunned Manchester United and explains motives behind stinging attack on club and Erik ten Hag
Piers Morgan has revealed to talkSPORT that his explosive interview with Cristiano Ronaldo was the Manchester United star’s idea.
Ronaldo has stunned United and supporters by giving a no holds barred sit-down with friend Morgan on TalkTV, where he hits out at the club's hierarchy and manager Erik ten Hag.
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The Portuguese superstar has fallen out with the new boss more than once this season, and has now claimed he feels ‘disrespected’ and ‘betrayed’ by Ten Hag and the club.
While the full interview will be aired on TalkTV later this week, the teaser segments have already become global news.
It’s assumed it means Ronaldo’s Man United career is over, with the forward now away with Portugal for the World Cup and unlikely to return after hitting out at the leading figures within Old Trafford.
Morgan joined Monday’s talkSPORT Breakfast to explain how the interview came about.
And it appears the whole thing was Ronaldo’s idea.
“Well, Cristiano asked me to do it - simple as that,” said the Talk TV host.
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“I didn’t ask him, he asked me.
“It was all very recent. He’s been thinking about this for a while. I think it’s no secret that he’s felt a build-up of deep frustration about what’s been happening at United over the last year.
“He felt it was time to speak out.
“He knows it was going to be incendiary, he knows this is going to rattle some cages, but he also feels that he should be doing this.
“He knows people will criticise him, but he also knows that what he’s saying is true.
“Sometimes the truth hurts.”
On the motives behind the interview, Morgan added: “I think part of the timing was the World Cup is obviously about to start, he’s with Portugal, a good team, he can have a good World Cup. It gives him a month away from United.
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“It gives time for what he said to settle in and he can come back and try and resolve things. As he makes the point in the interview repeatedly - he loves Manchester United, he loves the fans.
“But what he’s come back to, in his view, is a stagnated club which hasn’t moved on at all from where he left it.
“He can’t understand why not. He feels if he doesn’t speak out, nothing will change.”
Pushed on when the interview was conducted, Morgan said: “I’m not going to say, I did it recently, obviously. That’s between me and Cristiano.
“He’s been thinking about this for a while and then I got a call - ‘I want to do it now’.
“I think part of the timing for him was that he wanted to do this before he went off to the World Cup. It gives United time to think about what they want to do, and for him and his people to think about what they want to do.
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“There’s a very good chance that Ronaldo has a very good World Cup, in which case it’ll be the best shop window for him to get what he really wants, which is to be at a competitive team in the Champions League which can allow him to play at the highest level for a couple more years. He wants to retire around 40, he said to me.
“Most of all he wants to be respected and valued, and he doesn’t feel that under Ten Hag. He thinks from the very start he has tried to go out of his way to score points with Ronaldo, and it’s very easy for managers to do that because he’s the biggest name, biggest star and he gets a lot of headlines that distract from the real problems at the club."
Asked if Ronaldo commented on his future at Old Trafford, Morgan added: “He definitely doesn’t say to me that he’s definitely leaving.
“But he’s aware that by doing what he’s doing it may mean the end of his time at Manchester United - of course he does, he’s not stupid.”
On the criticism over his behaviour during the Premier League clash with Tottenham, which saw him storm down the tunnel before the final whistle, Morgan said: "He admits he shouldn’t have done what he did at the Spurs game, he talks in detail about that.
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“He admits that he apologised to his teammates, but he’s not sorry to Ten Hag about refusing to go on.
“When United were getting hammered by Man City, Ten Hag didn’t bring Ronaldo on, saying he didn’t want to disrespect him by bringing him on for the last few minutes when we’re losing a game like that.
“But a couple of weeks later they play Tottenham, and he orders him to come on with three minutes to go. It’s the same manager who said two weeks before he wasn’t going to do that.
"You can’t have it both ways if you’re Ten Hag.”
In a message to United fans angry with the clips of the interview published so far, Morgan added: “If you watch the whole interview you’ll get a much more rounded picture. Yes it’s explosive, but it’s very revealing about what is really going on at United.
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“As Cristiano says in the interview, Ten Hag is very good at saying one thing to the media, but it’s very different what’s been going on behind the scenes.
“And he feels - in my view, quite rightly - very angry about some of the things that have happened.
“A lot of things people have been criticising him for, like not going back at the start of pre-season, I think when people find out exactly what happened they may view this all very differently. They might view the response of the club to be pretty disgraceful.
“There’s a lot more to this than meets the eye.
“Ronaldo is, in my opinion, the greatest to ever play the game who has won everything - five Ballon d’Ors, five Champions League titles - and when he comes out like this, I think people should listen to him.”
Watch ‘Piers Morgan Uncensored: 90 Minutes with Ronaldo’, 8pm on Wednesday and Thursday on TalkTV. Find TalkTV on Sky 526, Virgin Media 606, Freeview 237, Freesat 217 and Sky Glass 508, live and on demand on the TalkTV app, streaming services and at Talk.TV.
Read More on talkSPORT
More on Cristiano Ronaldo:
- Cristiano Ronaldo tells Piers Morgan he feels ‘betrayed’ by Manchester United, has no respect for Erik ten Hag and blasts state of club in explosive interview
- Manchester United issue statement after Cristiano Ronaldo interview with Piers Morgan where he said he felt ‘betrayed’ and ‘disrespected’ by club and hit out at Erik ten Hag
- Graeme Souness says Cristiano Ronaldo was right to say what he did about Manchester United and Erik ten Hag to Piers Morgan but Simon Jordan tells talkSPORT co-host why he’s wrong
- ‘The truth is being told’ – Cristiano Ronaldo’s sister posts series of Instagram stories in support of brother
- Cristiano Ronaldo ‘has got a lot to say about the Glazers’ – Piers Morgan reveals superstar’s thoughts on Manchester United owners from stunning interview
- ‘No chance Cristiano Ronaldo plays for Manchester United again’ – Teddy Sheringham says Portugal star has burned his bridges with bombshell interview
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