Cristiano Ronaldo is famously the one player Roy Keane wouldn’t criticise – except for when he was his teammate.
The pair played together at Manchester United between 2003 and 2006, winning an FA Cup together in a star-studded team.
That three year run wasn’t the most trophy-laden, given what happened before and after it under Alex Ferguson, and on one particular occasion Keane took his frustration out on the Portuguese youngster.
In a match against Southampton in 2003, a Paul Scholes shot was parried to Ronaldo all alone in the box, and all he had to do was pick a corner.
However, he went for a showboating-style dink, and the ball went over the bar, with Ronaldo collapsing to the floor in embarrassment.
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Keane, at his terrifying best, could then be seen shouting back at his teammate: “Put it in the f***ing net you f***ing w*****. F***ing p****!”
Ronaldo would later respond perfectly by scoring a game-ending third in a 3-0 victory to secure the points, but was clearly still in shock about his dressing down, with Rio Ferdinand telling him to smile after learning a valuable lesson.
Keane would depart Old Trafford as a club legend, and with the showboating out the window, Ronaldo would score a massive 42 goals in the 2007/08 season to claim his first Champions League and Ballon d’Or.
Leaving the club himself in 2009 in a then-world record £88million transfer to Real Madrid, United fans watched on as Ronaldo became a footballing great and the highest-scorer the game’s ever seen.
Dreaming of one day having him back, they finally got their wish in 2021 when he re-signed from Juventus and much like the supporters, Keane was buzzing.
Ronaldo started with a bang, scoring twice against Newcastle on his second debut, and adding a number of dramatic goals to keep United in the Champions League.
Despite some glorious moments, things were quickly going wrong. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was on the brink and eventually left in November, while his replacements, Ralf Rangnick and Erik ten Hag fell out with the superstar striker.
Ronaldo took on both them and the club, and when the media gradually turned on him things got very awkward.
Gary Neville in particular experienced that when Ronaldo made a point of blanking him before a match against West Ham in October 2022, greeting Louis Saha and even Jamie Redknapp before ignoring Neville.
Querying the incident behind the scenes later on, Neville commented: “It tells us something, it means he’s watched us. I think if I had five million followers on Instagram I wouldn’t give a f*** about Gary Neville.”
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Keane, though, kept quiet throughout, having clearly gained so much respect for the Ronaldo in the following years since his 2003 outburst.
