Quite recently, Cristiano Ronaldo broke the football world by name-dropping several football stars in a controversial interview with Piers Morgan. One of these stars was Wayne Rooney, his ex-partner-in-crime.
Wayne Rooney has criticized Ronaldo in some interviews over the years, the most recent being the one where he called the superstar out for his unacceptable behaviour.
He said that the Portuguese should keep his head down, and how players like Keane, who openly support Ronaldo now, would not have handled this back when they were in the dressing room.
Ronaldo did not respond to this back then, but it seemed like he was saving it up in his infamous “notebook” for this interview.
When asked about his former Man United teammate, he said, “I don’t know why he criticizes me so badly, probably because he finished his career and I’m still playing at a high level.”
It is important to note that Rooney is the same age as Ronaldo, 37, and the Englishman retired at Derby County two years ago. His career as a glamorous player ended long before that.
CR7 then went on to say, “I’m not going to say that I’m looking better than him. Which is true”
Since the interview, Ronaldo fans have taken it upon themselves to drive this “burn” deeper in.
Rooney’s Instagram posts have been flooded with a barrage of toxic comments from some of Ronaldo’s fans. The comments range anything from a single “💩” emoji to some of the most untrue and hurtful things they could come up with.
These included calling him an “old baby white a white beard”, pointing to his Ballon d’Or cabinet, and saying things like “who are you?” on a post that is just him wishing his son Kai a happy birthday.
The issue here is that Ronaldo fans haven’t even heard about what Rooney said before jumping to defend their favourite football player.
What Rooney said does not deserve the abuse he’s getting from the fans, as even though it was controversial, it was from a place of concern for the club and not personally for Ronaldo.
Along the same lines, Ronaldo has every right to attack anyone he feels has warranted such behaviour, but the fans blow it well out of proportion.
The main reason why the comments are coming in now is because of the interview, but it’s safe to assume that Ronaldo fanboys were waiting for such an occasion to occur so they could finally get to say what they want about the United legend.
This is because he has stated before when writing for the Sunday Times, that he believes Messi is a better footballer than Ronaldo.
Rooney had said that “Despite my friendship with Cristiano, I would go for Messi. Ronaldo is ruthless in the box, a killer. But Messi will torture you before he kills you.”
Again, Rooney is entitled to his opinion, but harassment is completely uncalled for. Hate comments and trolls are never acceptable, it is time to grow up.
Rooney has since then responded to Ronaldo’s criticism, in a very classy fashion. He called him one of the two best players to ever play the game, along with Messi, and that Ronaldo is just ageing as everyone else does.
Hopefully, the saga comes to an end soon, with the issue being resolved privately between the two of them.
It’ll spare them and the rest of the world from the hate comments that seem to never stop.