Gary Neville has called on Cristiano Ronaldo to address the “petulance, the stomping around, the sulking” after the 37-year-old was dropped by Portugal manager Fernando Santos for the World Cup last-16 match against Switzerland.
Ronaldo was at the centre of a controversy during the team’s final Qatar World Cup group game against South Korea, which Portugal lost 2-1, when he made a ‘shh’ gesture by bringing his finger to his lips when being taken off.
Speaking ahead of the last-16 clash with Switzerland, Portugal boss Santos said that he wasn’t impressed.
It comes just weeks after a controversial interview with Piers Morgan where he criticised Manchester United, a move that ultimately brought his career at Old Trafford to an end.
Neville believes his team-mate needs to do “a lot better”.
“This is a manager [Santos] whose got an unbelievable relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo for eight years,” he told ITV.
“There are a lot of fans of Cristiano Ronaldo who aren’t willing to tell him the truth and I think he does need to listen to the truth.
“It’s becoming a little bit of a scruffy end. I mean, it won’t surprise me if he came on tonight and scored the winner.
“But the petulance, the stomping around, the sulking… it’s got to stop because it doesn’t reflect well on him at all.
“His long-term legacy is set, he’s protected, he’s one of the all-time great players, but in the short term, he’s got to do a lot better because… is the Juventus manager wrong? Is the Manchester United manager wrong? And now is the Portugal manager wrong?
“There’s three of them that now have done the same thing with him.”
Neville praised his determination and single mindedness, but called on the five-time Ballon d’Or winner to think of his team-mates.
“His single mindedness has been one of his greatest strengths over the last 10, 15 years,” said Neville.
“His determination to become one of the best in the world, to score the most goals, to break all the records, that fight with [Lionel] Messi.
“But there comes a point where you still have to think about the collective and that’s your team-mates in the dressing room. You’re leaving the game early like you did at United twice, stomping off the other day.
“It’s coming to that point where he’s not accepting the end of his career very well.”
Former England and Arsenal forward Ian Wright believes his body language has been poor recently.
“At the end of the day, as great as he is, it’s a team game,” said Wright.
“He’s not playing well the last two years. It’s not ending well, and it doesn’t seem like he’s enjoying it at the minute. He doesn’t seem happy.
“I don’t know how many people have said no to him. When’s the last time he’s heard ‘no’ in his life?”
Nigel de Jong, a former Netherlands international, criticised Ronaldo for not showing leadership.
“No matter how big of a player Ronaldo is, you have to leave the stage in a gracious way,” said De Jong.
“You don’t want to see this from one of the best footballers that we’ve ever seen in the last few decades.
“The majority of this team, they’re striving for a leader and he’s not showing himself in that sense on these kind of days.”
