Piers Morgan Leaps To The Defence Of Cristiano Ronaldo After Wayne Rooney 'Criticism'

Wayne Rooney's performance on Monday Night Football was roundly applauded by most, but Piers Morgan took umbrage at his assessment of former Manchester United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo.

Rooney was sat with Jamie Carragher in the Sky Sports studio for Crystal Palace's brilliant win over Arsenal on Monday night, giving insight into the match and many other topics.

Social media was full of praise for the Derby County manager, how he came across and roundly agreeing with much of what he had to say.

Amongst those was being honest in his assessment of Ronaldo's move back to United this season, praising him for being a goal threat but not doing enough else, and saying the team needed to rely on younger players.

All round not exactly the most offensive or out their opinion one could have on the 37-year-old forward who Ralf Rangnick initially dropped from his starting line up due to worries about his ability to work hard upfront in closing defenders down.

However Morgan, who you have to assume is the chairman of the unofficial CR7 supporters club, jumped to his favourite footballer's defence, like a seven-year-old wound up by his older brother about football.

Maybe all of Morgan's points are spot on, but it's difficult to take the man seriously when it comes to the subject of the former Real Madrid star.

The two are friends, after the footballer was interviewed by the former Good Morning Britain presenter, and Morgan recently revealed a text conversation they were having.

He has often referred to Ronaldo as the greatest player ever, often needing to put down Lionel Messi in the same statements to protect his favourite.

The 57-year-old also ripped into Michael Carrick for dropping the all time men's international top scorer for one of his games in charge as caretaker manager.

Perhaps the Arsenal fan was just annoyed having seen his team lose 3-0 to Palace and see their grip on the final Champions League qualification spot slip a little, to rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

The former News of the World editor has been vocal about his annoyance that the Gunners let Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leave in January, and he has been playing well for Barcelona since.

Following Monday's loss, he once again berated Mikel Arteta for the decision, saying, "This is actually a moment when Arsenal fans need to accept Arteta made a massive season-wrecking mistake in giving away Aubameyang & relying on Lacazette to lead the line.

"I said it would come back to haunt us - and it is."

Maybe he won't be happy until they sign Ronaldo...