How will Roy Keane come across in the future following Cristiano Ronaldo’s interview?

Ireland held Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal to a scoreless draw in Dublin

Ronaldo in action against the Republic of Ireland Credit: David Ribeiro (ETPhotos)

In all his days as a professional footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo has never known rejection like he is experiencing now. The latest hammer blow came during Portugal’s round of 16 victory over Switzerland when the 37-year-old was left out of the starting lineup. Astonishingly, you have to go back to 2000 to find the last time that Ronaldo didn’t feature in the starting XI in a knockout match for his country.

Indeed, Fernando Santos’ decision to leave Ronaldo out of the team to play the Swiss brought to an end a run of 31 games where the Portuguese superstar had appeared for his country in a major tournament. As touched on, Ronaldo has never experienced anything like this before and what will undoubtedly have made matters worse for him, is that the latest World Cup Golden Boot betting odds now price his greatest rival, Lionel Messi, at far better odds of 12/1 to leave Qatar as the tournament’s top scorer. 

In short, this sudden turn of events must be a jarring shock for Ronaldo given that in the space of a month, the player has been dropped by club manager Erik ten Hag and then seen his Old Trafford contract ripped up following an interview with Piers Morgan where he questioned the wisdom of not starting him. Then, as briefly alluded to, just as things couldn’t get any worse, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner was benched by Santos following his reaction to being substituted against South Korea. 

It is in Ronaldo's best interests to hear the truth 

As disappointing and unsettling as this time must be for Ronaldo, the inescapable truth is that there is an unmistakable trend developing here; Ronaldo is no longer seen as indispensable by those who manage him and his reaction to not being needed is seeing him burn bridges on both the domestic and international scene. 

Given that this theme is repeating itself now, you could say that Ronaldo is in denial about the fact that he is clearly past his best. Of course, it hasn’t helped that there have been cheerleaders like Morgan who haven’t challenged Ronaldo robustly enough on his claims about his mistreatment at Old Trafford by asking if he could have helped himself more in the situation by focusing on being slightly more team orientated. In some way, this must play into the narrative that Ronaldo has created for himself which absolves him of any wrongdoing.

An unlikely ally 

Surprisingly, Roy Keane, for all his renowned no-holds-barred punditry, has also chosen to give Ronaldo, if you will, a free pass despite the evidence stacking up against the 37-year-old. 

It should be stressed that it is the Irishman's right to defend his ex-teammate but there are times when you can’t help but feel that Keane is adopting an overly charitable point of view that is designed to assist Ronaldo’s cause. The one claim that stands out is that the 37-year-old had, according to Keane, five of the biggest clubs in Europe try to sign him over the summer.



However, now that Ronaldo is a free agent, it appears as if Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia is the only club willing to table an offer for him. It goes without saying but this is in stark contrast to what Keane told viewers was the case whilst on duty for Sky Sports.

Again, Keane is free to fight his friend's corner but when it comes at the expense of transparent punditry that viewers have to come to respect him for, then the Irishman's credibility will inevitably suffer in the long run.

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