Ronaldo delivers scathing criticism of United

Hours before Cristiano Ronaldo’s highly anticipated tell-all interview with Piers Morgan was finally broadcast, Manchester United was pulling down a giant mural outside Old Trafford containing an image of the Portugal superstar.

Surely they knew what was coming.

Few at United were spared in a scathing condemnation of the club that Ronaldo delivered in the first part of a 90-minute interview that went out on Talktv on Wednesday.

Past and present teammates. Former managers. The people who run the club. They all got a blast from the one of the world’s biggest sporting superstars, whose days at United are now surely numbered.

Excerpts from the interview had already been released on Sunday, including clips where Ronaldo said he felt “betrayed” by United and that he didn’t respect manager Erik ten Hag.

Here are some of the other key parts of the incendiary interview, broadcast four days before the World Cup — likely Ronaldo’s last — starts in Qatar:

‘CLOSE TO CITY’

Ronaldo said he came close to joining Manchester City before agreeing to join United for a second spell in August last year. “It was close, it was close ... they tried hard to have me,” Ronaldo said of City and its manager, Pep Guardiola. “But as you know, with my history at Manchester United, your heart, your feeling, the history that you did before, makes the difference.” Ronaldo added that a conversation with Alex Ferguson, who was United manager in his first spell at the club, was influential. “I spoke with him — he said, ‘It’s impossible for you to come to Manchester City,” Ronaldo said. “I said, ‘OK boss.’”