Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has said that it was ‘horrible’ watching his former team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo cry after he crashed out of the World Cup on Saturday.
Neville said it was horrible seeing Ronaldo, who he described as the greatest of all time, shed tears in such a manner.
Morocco ended Portugal’s World Cup run in Qatar on Saturday, with Walid Regragui’s side now the first African country to reach a World Cup semi-final.
The 37-year-old Ronaldo started from the bench to equal the men’s all-time appearance record of 196 international matches.
Youssef En-Nesyri’s first-half goal settled the quarter-final and sent the Arab nation into the semi-finals, where they faced the defending champions France on Wednesday.
Ronaldo walked straight down the tunnel in tears at full-time and Neville, one of the Portuguese’s recent critics, was nevertheless able to sympathise with the former Manchester United star man.
“I do want to mention Cristiano Ronaldo because I saw that image of him crying in the tunnel,” Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast.
“That was a horrible image for me. That’s that moment where he knows his dream of winning the World Cup for his country has gone.
“He’s one of the greatest, if not the greatest player of all time. It was horrible to see him like that. He’s had a tough couple of months.”
Brazil, The Netherlands, Portugal and England will hope to return to football’s greatest stage in 2026 when Mexico, Canada and the United States of America will host the World Cup while Argentina, Morocco, France and Croatia will battle it out for the trophy in the remaining days of the showpiece in Qatar.
