Cristiano Ronaldo has admitted feeling "humiliated" by Manchester United's decision to suspend him - and says the situation was made worse by having to explain it to his son Cristiano Jr.
United chiefs including manager Erik ten Hag opted to punish Ronaldo by banning him from playing any part in the fixture against Chelsea, which came three days after his tantrum against Tottenham. Ronaldo was also banished from the training ground over the incident, having refused to come on as a substitute in the dying minutes vs Spurs, before storming down the tunnel and out of the stadium before the final whistle had blown.
But whilst he accepted he was in the wrong, Ronaldo feels the punishment was too harsh and suggested it was all part of a wider ploy from United to test his patience. Speaking in his bombshell interview with Piers Morgan on Talk TV, Ronaldo said: "I think it was a strategy from the club for me to react that way.
“I was very disappointed for the communication of Manchester United. To be honest, I never had a problem with any club, with any coach. And they suspend me three days, which I felt it was a lot - and the level of sport, clubs, I felt a lot. It was a shame."
Ronaldo was heavily criticised for his outburst as his professionalism was called into question, while many urged United to cut ties with the five-time Ballon d'Or winner. But despite all the furore, Ronaldo conceded it was the disbelief from his eldest son when he told Cristiano Jr why he wasn't playing that really summed up the situation.
"I remember arriving home and Cristiano see me and say ‘Daddy do you not go to the game?’ I say ‘No, because the club punish me with three days’. And then he said: ‘How are they going to punish you if you are the best player in the world and you're not gonna play?’ I said ‘No I'm not gonna play because I have not been behave’. And he look at me like, ‘My Daddy not behave, what?’
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“In one way, it was good because I was like, more relaxed, but in the same way, I feel very disappointed because, okay, I regret [it], I apologise, I'm not perfect, I made a mistake. But suspend me three days, for that, I think it's too much. And then they make fire for the press, which really disappointed me.”
Ronaldo's relationship with Ten Hag was one of the key reasons for him hitting out in his explosive interview, as he accused his manager for making "excuses" for not playing him. The fact Ten Hag had even asked Ronaldo to come on for the final few minutes was enough of an insult in Ronaldo's eyes for him to determine the Dutch coach had little respect for him.
“Don’t tell me that the top players, the guys who want everything, the key players will play three minutes," Ronaldo continued. "Come on, this is unacceptable after what they keep saying before, that they respect me, that they do this, they do that.
"For me it was not respect, this is why I take this decision I regret [to storm off during the Tottenham match]. I apologised to my teammates for the situation, I did a post, an Instagram, I regret leaving the stadium.
"I regret my teammates know what I felt, and I said to them, apologised, but in the same way, I don't regret taking the decision to not come on… The coach didn’t have respect for me.
"So this is why the relationship, it’s in that way. He keep saying in the press that he come to me, he like me blah, blah, blah but that it’s only for the press. 100%.”
In a final killer blow, Ronaldo added: “If you don’t have respect for me, I'm never going to have respect for you."
Watch Piers Morgan Uncensored: 90 Minutes with Ronaldo at https://watch.talk.tv/ or www.youtube.com/piersmorganuncensored
