Jamie Carragher blasts former Man United stars for defending Cristiano Ronaldo after he gives explosive interview

Jamie Carragher has called out former Manchester United stars Roy Keane, Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra for defending Cristiano Ronaldo after the comments he made in an explosive interview with Piers Morgan.

The interview is to be shown in full later this week on TalkTV but many of the major newspoints blew up online on Sunday evening, with Ronaldo unloading on a series of figures connected with United.

Ronaldo, who has been a bit-part player this season, claims he has been betrayed and went in on manager Erik ten Hag, Ralf Rangnick and former teammate Wayne Rooney.

Ten Hag has predominantly used Ronaldo as a substitute and punished him for refusing to come as a substitute against Spurs.

Ronaldo's relationship with the Dutchman is quite clearly strained and he revealed he doesn't "have respect" for Ten Hag "because he doesn’t show respect for me.

Former Liverpool defender Carragher has regularly criticised Ronaldo ever since he came back to United in the summer of 2021, leading to the five-time Ballon d'Or winner brutally snubbing him at Old Trafford.

He and ex United skipper Keane have debated the subject on many an occasion on Sky Sports and after hearing Ronaldo's comments, he came down hard.

Carragher pointed out that Ronaldo announced he wished to leave in the summer, before refusing to come on and leaving the stadium before the conclusion of the Spurs game.

He went on to say that "99 per cent" of United fans will back their manager and want the Portuguese superstar gone, adding that the one per cent will be three of Ronaldo's former teammates working in the media.

Ronaldo “I don’t respect the manager”

Ronaldo under ETH: Announced he wanted to leave, refused to come on as a substitute, walked off the bench & left before the game had finished.

99% of United fans will be on the side of ETH, which shows how badly Ronaldo has handled this.

— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) November 13, 2022

The 1% will be Rio, Roy & Patrice…. https://t.co/PPFgVWz2eA

— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) November 13, 2022

Also in the 90-minute interview, Ronaldo slammed his club for a making "zero progress" since Sir Alex Ferguson's retired and revealed the Scot stopped him from joining rivals Manchester City.

The 37-year-old also claimed United doubted his reasons for not returning to pre-season on time - with Ronaldo's three-month old daughter hospitalised.

He said his employers "hurt" him by showing a "lack of empathy" in what was "the most difficult period of my life".

Ronaldo was not in the squad for the 2-1 win over Fulham on Sunday and United are said to be "extremely disappointed" with the interview, which they were not aware of initially.

It looks extremely unlikely that Ronaldo will remain at United beyond January.