Fernandes breaks silence on Ronaldo interview and ‘frosty’ incident

Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes has addressed Cristiano Ronaldo’s controversial interview with Talk TV host Piers Morgan, in which he struck out at Erik ten Hag and the club in general. Fernandes also flatly denied that the pair were captured in a frosty exchange shortly after the interview surfaced, providing an explanation as to what people really saw. 

Ronaldo seemed to burn his bridges with United in a tell-all interview with Morgan, which was released this week. In it, he claimed to ‘not respect’ Ten Hag, explained his surprise at the standard of infrastructure compared to other top clubs and recounted how the majority of youngsters don’t listen to his advice. 

Onlookers watched closely as Ronaldo joined up with Fernandes on Portugal duty, as the latter appeared to give his United team-mate a cold handshake and a brief talking to. After scoring twice in a 4-0 pre-tournament win over Nigeria on Thursday evening, Fernandes was asked about how the comments have affected their relationship. 

“I didn’t read the interview,” he told Sky Sports. “As I said before, now it’s the national team. It’s Portugal. The coach made a point that it’s us. He made that point since I came to the national team in 2017. That is still clear. In his mind, the main thing is the national team. We have to be focused on the World Cup.

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Portugal head to Qatar among the tournament favourites, with Ronaldo and Fernandes joined by the likes of Joao Cancelo, Joao Felix and Bernardo Silva. Their campaign gets underway next Thursday against Ghana, before two subsequent Group H fixtures against Uruguay and South Korea. 

Man Utd’s domestic season resumes on December 21, when Burnley visit Old Trafford to fight for a spot in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals. It remains to be seen whether Ronaldo is involved, with many expecting him to be sold or dismissed by the Red Devils in January.