Wayne Rooney has responded to Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘rat’ jibe by describing his former Manchester United strike partner’s comments as ‘strange’.
The Mail online reported that in an interview with Piers Morgan, Ronaldo claimed Rooney’s criticism of him in the media suggested ‘jealousy’, because he was better looking and still actively playing football.
Morgan then asked how Rooney could dislike Ronaldo even more, asking, “More pounds in the bank or more Instagram followers?”
Ronaldo, laughing, replied: “That’s a good question! Probably similar!”
Morgan then said: “I’m just trying to work out how Wayne Rooney could hate you even more.”
Ronaldo answered, “Not only him, imagine the rest of the rats they are going to criticise me too, but it is good to still be the No 1.”
The 37-year-old, during the interview, said of Rooney who is also 37, “Probably [it’s jealousy]. Probably – because he finished his career in his 30s. I’m still playing at a high level; I’m not going to say that I’m looking better than him, which is true.”
Rooney, in a recent interview, has responded to Ronaldo’s comments, telling CNN, “Well, listen, Cristiano Ronaldo’s a fantastic player and, as I’ve said before, he and Messi are the two best players probably to play the game.
“And, again, it’s not a criticism. What I’ve said is age comes to all of us, and Cristiano is obviously feeling that and he’s finding it hard to deal with that.
“Obviously he’s done an interview that’s gone global. Bit strange, some of the comments are strange in there but I’m sure Manchester United will deal with it once they’ve seen the full interview and they’ll take whatever action they need to take.”
The interview, which wasn’t authorised by the club, dropped in the hours after United’s 2-1 Premier League win at Fulham, their last fixture before the World Cup.
It remains to be seen if Ronaldo will play for United again following his comments, with lawyers for United studying his words to see if they constitute a breach of contract.
The Portuguese star who has a contract worth £500,000-a-week at Old Trafford could have it ripped up by the club so he can leave as a free agent in January.
