“After the game, when the plane landed, the club’s communications staff turned off aeroplane mode and saw that he had given that interview in which he was highly critical of the club. Then everyone went wild. It was chaos, people pacing back and forth. It was madness,” Fred said on the Charla podcast.

Fred added that Ronaldo “said things he shouldn’t have, and it was a week of turmoil”.

The interview he is describing aired on TalkTV’s Piers Morgan Uncensored on 16 and 17 November 2022. It ended Ronaldo’s second spell at Old Trafford within days: the forward left by mutual consent and signed for Al-Nassr the following month.

Ten Hag ‘argued with everyone’

Fred was less generous about the manager who presided over that week. He gave Erik ten Hag credit for his tactics, but was scathing about his man-management.

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“Tactically, Ten Hag was very good, but with the group, he was a piece of crap.”

“He argued with everyone. He argued with me, with Cristiano, with Casemiro, with Rashford.”

“Only the Dutch players got to play. He was a coach who played his favourites.”

Fred still called Ten Hag “one of the best I’ve ever worked with” tactically, but tied the Ronaldo breakdown to a single decision.

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“He wanted the team to run, but Cristiano was already older. He took Cristiano out, and then there was a falling-out.”

Ronaldo walks out on Portugal

The 41-year-old walked out on Portugal’s camp on 1 October, after new head coach Jorge Jesus confirmed he would not start the Nations League fixture against Denmark. Jesus had already left Ronaldo on the bench for the full 90 minutes of the 2-1 win in Norway days earlier.

“I’m the coach and I told the player that he wasn’t going to play,” Jesus said.

Ronaldo posted on Instagram that he had decided “to leave the role of the national team” after speaking with the Portuguese FA president, and promised to “tell the truth about the reasons that led to my departure”, according to Arab News.

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The Portuguese Football Federation can impose a suspension of between one and six months, plus a fine, for breaches of its disciplinary code.

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