Wayne Rooney responds to Cristiano Ronaldo’s criticism

After Cristiano Ronaldo slammed some of his former Manchester United team-mates, including Gary Neville and Wayne Rooney for their criticism of the Portuguese forward’s current form, the DC United manager has since responded.

In an interview with CNN, Rooney said that his intention was never to criticise Ronaldo, a player who on this occasion he heaped praise on and ranked alongside Lionel Messi as the best in history, but stressed that age has begun to take its toll on the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

“I’ve always said it, Cristiano is a fantastic player. He and Messi are probably the two best players ever to play the game. It’s not a criticism. What I said is that age comes to all of us, and Cristiano is finding it hard to deal with that,” Rooney explained to CNN.

What did Ronaldo say about Rooney?

In the interview with Piers Morgan, Cristiano said that the current DC United boss was ‘jealous’ of the level he continues to show at the age of 38, as well as stating that another factor in the Englishman’s alleged envy was the physical appearance of both players.

“I don’t know why Wayne criticises me so much. Six months ago he brought his kids here and played football with Cristiano Junior. I don’t know if it’s because he wants to be in the press or if he wants to get a job. Maybe he’s jealous because he finished his career in his 30s and I’m still at the top level. I’m not going to say I’m looking better, because it’s the truth, but... it’s difficult to hear criticism like that from someone you played with. The same thing happens to me with Gary Neville,” Ronaldo said in the controversial interview this week.