RIO FERDINAND has revealed why Thierry Henry has “beef” with Cristiano Ronaldo – and he is not the only one.
The Manchester United legend played alongside the five time Balloon d’Or winner for six years at Old Trafford.
And French icon Henry faced Ronaldo in many fixtures during his time at Arsenal from 1999-2007.
The pair share the record for the most direct free kick goals by a foreign player (12) and also winning the Most Player of the Season awards with two each.
But Ferdinand revealed on a recent podcast about Henry and Brazilian Ronaldo’s animosity towards Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ferdinand told Andreas Poke: “The way I see Thierry talk about Cristiano, it’s more what he doesn’t say. He doesn’t talk about him with any zest or spark.
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“It’s like he’s downplaying Cristiano a lot.
“There was a clip at Highbury when Henry slaps him on the back of his head or something like that and Cristiano pushes him off.
“Cristiano then scored the winner and Henry’s taking the kick-off with the goalscorer in the background.
“There seems like there’s a little bit of a subplot story that maybe makes it with Thierry and it’s probably still in his mind in moments like that.”
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Then on Brazilian Ronaldo Ferdinand added: “There’s beef there somewhere you know. It’s cause of the name.
“I think because of the name, as if he says, ‘You took my name,’ so I have a problem with you.”
Stephen Howson adds: “Because he was Ronaldo, wasn’t he. Then Cristiano comes along and everyone is referring to him as the “fat Ronaldo” which is disrespectful.”
Brazil Ronaldo, 47, won two World Cup’s, FIFA World Player of the Year three times an two Balloon D’or’s – and remains the youngest recipient of the award at 21.
The former striker had a glittering career playing for Cruziero, PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and AC Milan.
In December 2021, he then bought a £55million stake in his boyhood club Cruzeiro.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
