Cristiano Ronaldo: Jamie Carragher and Rio Ferdinand row over Man Utd forward – ‘He asks you to defend him!’

Jamie Carragher called Rio Ferdinand a Cristiano Ronaldo “fan boy” as the former England duo exchanged their views on the forward being left out of Sunday’s Manchester derby.

The debate rumbled onto Monday, where Carragher went on to claim that the idea Ten Hag “got it wrong yesterday by not playing Ronaldo is laughable”.

He added: “Ronaldo played at Brentford when it was 4-0 at [half-time]! It’s not a dig at [Ronaldo], but Rashford’s pace on the counter attack as we saw v Arsenal/Liverpool was 100% the best option.”

In a video promoting his own “Five” podcast, Ferdinand then said “Carra you still upset he didn’t shake ur hand at Old Trafford?”, referring to the moment Ronaldo ignored Carragher back in August before Liverpool played Man Utd.

In reponse, Carragher then said he was “delighted” that video went rival before claiming Ferdinand and former team-mate Patrice Evra are part of a WhatsApp group where Ronaldo asks them to defend him.

Carragher said: “Rio I know how it works, he’s your mate & you/Evra & the rest are on the group WhatsApp & he asks you to come out & defend him, don’t be his fan boy you’re Rio Ferdinand for FFS!!”

Ferdinand and Evra played with Ronaldo during his first spell at United.

Neville wrote on Twitter on Sunday: “Bringing him on at 4-0 and 6-1 would have been an insult.

“ETH [Erik ten Hag] may not have delivered the line correctly and probably would have been best not saying it (although I like his honesty).”