Veteran defender Rio Ferdinand recalled when former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson scolded Cristiano Ronaldo and left him in tears. Ronaldo, who flourished under Ferguson at United and became one of the best in business, once had to face the heat from the boss.
Ferdinand walked down memory lane and recalled when Manchester United were on a pre-season trip to Portugal for friendly matches. Ronaldo, who was a young rising star at the time, did some showboating during the match against Benfica when things were not going in United’s favour, which miffed Ferguson, who didn’t hold back while lashing out at him in the locker room.
The former Man United defender revealed that Ferguson ripped into Ronaldo.
“We’d been to Portugal and played a couple of games, and he hadn’t played well, Cristiano, because he was young, he tried too hard. I remember we played Benfica, and the manager ripped into Cristiano. ‘Who d’you think you are? You’re coming in here trying to prove to everybody who you think you are, you think you’re a superstar’” Ferguson told BBC Sport.
Ferdinand also said that Ronaldo didn’t hold back his tears after the incident in the changing room.
And I remember Cristiano in tears in the changing room. And I was like, ‘This manager doesn’t care, man. He doesn’t care who you are,'” he added.
Recently, Ronaldo led the celebrations after Portugal and five other countries were officially announced as hosts of the 2030 men’s World Cup on Wednesday. The player said the unique tournament would be the “most special” yet.
The 2030 tournament will be the first World Cup played in six different counties, with Spain, Portugal and Morocco as the main hosts while South American nations Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will each get one game. The format will help FIFA mark the centenary of Uruguay hosting the first World Cup in 1930.
“A dream come true,” the 39-year-old Ronaldo wrote in an Instagram post that had a photo of him celebrating while wearing Portugal’s jersey and featured the words: “The Most Special World Cup ever.”
