"Felt Sorry For Cristiano Ronaldo When He Was Walking Down That Tunnel In Tears": Man Utd Great
Into his final FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Cristiano Ronaldo's dream of lifting the biggest prize in world football came to an abrupt end when Portugal were eliminated at the quarter-final stage by Morocco.
Into his final FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Cristiano Ronaldo's dream of lifting the biggest prize in world football came to an abrupt end when Portugal were eliminated at the quarter-final stage by Morocco. Ronaldo, with tears in his eyes, headed down the tunnel into the locker room straight after the final whistle, heartbroken with the fact that he could not win the World Cup with Portugal. The visual saw tears roll down from the eyes of Ronaldo's fans and even one of his biggest critics, Garry Neville, felt sorry.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Neville admitted that he felt sorry for the Portuguese star seeing him teary-eyed after Portugal's 0-1 defeat to Morocco. While Ronaldo's resume does remain incomplete without the World Cup title, Neville does feel that the 37-year-old has 'overachieved' at this point in his career.
"I actually felt sorry for Cristiano in the end, when he was walking down that tunnel in tears. That's never a good image. You know he's thinking, 'this is it, I'm never going to play in this tournament again'.
"I wouldn't class it as an underachievement from Ronaldo, I'd say it's an overachievement that he's doing what he's doing at the age of 37, it's just the way it ended with him being out of the team.
Neville, who has been a staunch critic of Ronaldo, said that he was more disappointed with Portugal than his former Manchester United teammate.
"In the end, I thought Portugal were really poor in that last half-hour against Morocco. If you look at how to chase a football match, this was nothing to do with Ronaldo, it was more to do with Bernardo Silva and Bruno Fernandes and the way they played in the game, they were so deep and found themselves having to play impossible passes, or just recycle the ball side to side.
"I was more disappointed with Portugal as a collective than I was with Ronaldo," he concluded.
Neville is hoping Ronaldo finds a club where he gets to play regular football, unlike the 2022-23 season where he barely got to kick the ball for Manchester United.
Manchester United
Cristiano Ronaldo
Morocco