Gary Neville addresses infamous Cristiano Ronaldo snub at Man United game and how it’s affected their relationship

Gary Neville has lifted the lid on his relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo following the Portuguese star’s infamous pitchside snub.

Ronaldo was accused of blanking Gary Neville live on Sky Sports ahead of Manchester United’s Premier League clash against West Ham in October 2022.

During the pre-match build-up, the icon exchanged pleasantries with former teammate Louis Saha and Jamie Redknapp but left without acknowledging broadcast colleague Neville.

The situation stemmed from Ronaldo’s antics when benched for the United 2-0 win over Tottenham two weeks earlier.

He was seen storming down the tunnel in the final stages of the match after former United boss Erik ten Hag opted against bringing him on.

The act of petulance resulted in him being dropped for the 1-1 draw at Chelsea the following week, leading to Neville admitting he wanted Ronaldo to 'leave the club.’

Neville said at the time: “For me, Erik ten Hag had no choice, no option. Cristiano’s left the ground twice, you can’t do that.

"On the eve of pre-season, he asked for a transfer, he’s building up a list of things. It’s a messy end and Ten Hag is trying to establish control.

“End it this week or create a truce to get to the World Cup, it’s not doing him any favours. Leaving the dressing room before full-time, that’s not what he does, if you’re doing things like that you’ve got to leave.”

Ronaldo has since kept his distance from the Sky Sports pundit, something his broadcast colleagues regularly rib about Neville.

And with Ronaldo scoring again on international duty, Neville was queried about his relationship with the Portuguese superstar by colleague Jamie Carragher.

He told The Overlap US: “He's never not been my friend.

"To be fair, the situation at United at the end, he went and did that interview with Piers Morgan, I didn't feel that was the right way to end it, personally.

"I feel as though he's a guy who has achieved basically everything in the game and more.

"He's at 910 goals, which is absolutely scandalous. And he's going to finish with 1000, there is no way that that guy, with the way in which he believes and thinks, is going to finish without 1000. He will continue until he gets there.

"The way in which he gets there and keeps going is unbelievable. His determination and his willing to keep going and keep being professional every single year is fantastic."

After further ribbing from Carragher about Ronaldo's snub to Neville in 2022 he added: "To be fair, I never spoke to him before that for eight or nine years.

“I wasn’t friends with Cristiano when I played at the club. He was a great teammate, a special player.

“I believe he helped Manchester United enormously back in the day and I believe Manchester United was very good for him as well, so were the senior players around him in terms of the principles and that’s where I was disappointed with him at the end at United.

“There were a group of young players at United at that time, the likes of Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood and a couple more young players who were struggling with pressure and the exposure of Man United and he was a guy who could carry this on his shoulders in abundance.

“I expected at that time that he wouldn’t be the guy sat on the bench behind the manager at Brentford sulking.

“I didn’t expect him to wander off the pitch at the end of the Everton game when he’d been substituted early in the Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] era.

“Things like that are not him.”

Neville continued: “There are points when the leader stands up like Harry Kane has done with England, speaks with authority to make sure the standards are kept.

“I just felt as though at times that didn’t happen at United but I’m sure he was incredibly frustrated by the level of football player and football he was witnessing as well because he’s got incredible standards

“I see it from his side but just a difference of how to deal with it, I think.”