CRISTIANO RONALDO hugged BT Sport pundits Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes and ex-Liverpool ace Peter Crouch before Manchester United’s clash with Southampton this afternoon.
The Portuguese star raised eyebrows when he blanked Jamie Carragher during Sky Sports’ coverage of the Red Devils’ win over Liverpool on Monday night.
Ronaldo, 37, embraced old team-mates Gary Neville and Roy Keane on that occasion, pointedly skipping outspoken critic Carra.
Today at St Mary’s he proved it wasn’t merely an anti-Liverpool player thing, having beamed as he embraced ex-Red Crouchy.
Ronaldo also pranked his pal Ferdinand, squirting water at his shoes.
Rio, who donned an all-white outfit, moaned: “I’ve got suede shoes on and he’s squirting water on my shoes man!”
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As BT Sport showed the clip of Ronaldo greeting their pundits, host Lynsey Hipgrave, who replaced Jake Humphrey this season, said: “I was the one being blanked this time, which I wasn’t too happy about Rio!”
Earlier this week, Ferdinand claimed that his pal Ronaldo deliberately tried to “humiliate” Carragher on Monday Night.
The 43-year-old said on his Vibe with Five show: “Knowing Cristiano Ronaldo, Jamie Carragher’s been very vocal about Ronaldo being the problem and stuff like that.
“Trust me, Cristiano would’ve seen those comments and would’ve been thinking walking over there I’ll just let this guy know with a little… he needs to kind of calm him down, humiliate him and show him up, whatever way you want to dress it up live on TV.
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“Cristiano is very calculated, he’s very aware of what’s going on, he’s not somebody who sits at home and switches off.
“I’ve always said this, he uses social media and people’s comments as fuel to drive him on to be the best he’s done that since he was a young kid.”
Ferdinand then added: “Anyone who spoke bad about him in the media he knew about it. He mentioned Gary Lineker to me once about stuff because Gary Lineker is a massive Messi fan.
Cristiano will take that personally
Rio Ferdinand
“I was thinking bro you’re not even in this country how are you seeing the footage. He knows everything.
“For Jamie Carragher to continually call him out, he’s got a right to his own opinion Jamie, but Cristiano will take that personally.
“He’s an emotional guy and he’ll show that his actions were no surprise to me. I find it funny, I find it hilarious to be honest.”
Carragher responded to the snub on Twitter, after Soccer AM tweeted: “*Insert custard pie emoji*.”
The Liverpool legend hit back: “I get a custard pie for getting it right on Ronaldo from day one!
“The custard pie for him from ETH shows the Manager thinks the same!
“Maybe the ex Man United Legends (sycophants!) will now agree with me.”
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United went on to win 1-0 at St Mary’s, courtesy of Bruno Fernandes’ 55th minute strike.
Ronaldo was called upon in the 68th minute, replacing Jadon Sancho and helping his side see out the match.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
