Monday, February 11, 2013
Ronaldo is a bully says Gary Neville.
Gary Neville has described Real Madrid star
and ex-Manchester United team-mate
Cristiano Ronaldo as a "bully" who preys on
defenders' weaknesses.
Ex-captain Neville played alongside the
Portuguese forward from 2003 to 2009.
Before his old side's Champions League trip
to Madrid, Neville said: "Ronaldo is a bully.
He bullies the weakest defender. He does it
all the time."
Wednesday's last-16 tie at the Bernabeu will
be Ronaldo's first game against United
since his £80m move in 2009.
Neville, who played 602 times for United,
also praised his former team-mate for
changing his view on how the game should
be played, reports the BBC.
The former England right-back added: "He
changed my perception.
"We had a midfield four - Beckham, Keane,
Scholes, Giggs - I played with Beckham for
seven years. They never had the freedom to
decide their position on the pitch.
"Suddenly I didn't have someone in front of
me who would come back and double up
on the [opposition's] left-winger.
"In those early years he used to go
wandering off.
"He was told to play on the right by Sir Alex
Ferguson and would end up on the left.
That was unheard of.
"By the end of Ronaldo's Manchester United
career I was willing him not to chase back
so he was free.
"He just decided his own position, which
was based upon where the space was and
who was the weak link. He made me realise
you didn't always need to be in your shape.
"We had a player who was beyond a level of
talent I had ever seen. He would go and win
us game after game. I suppose that is more
important."
Ronaldo, 28, scored his 20th hat-trick since
arriving in Spain during Real Madrid's 4-1
defeat of Seville on Saturday.
He has now scored 182 for the Spanish
giants from only 179 games.
Neville is convinced Ronaldo is a better
player than when he left Old Trafford.
"Now, he is a monster," he added. "I saw
him on Saturday evening. He picks the ball
up in an innocuous position, 30 yards out,
does some type of shimmy I can't even
describe let alone do, beats a man and
whacks it in from 25 yards.
"You can't defend against that.
"Then he scores a counter-attack goal when
he chases 80 yards forward, then he preys
on the back of the centre-half and scores a
hat-trick inside 30 minutes."
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson may ask
Phil Jones to man-mark Ronaldo in the
Champions League game, although Neville is
not certain that will contain him.
"You literally need to have two men against
him. Even then they might both get beaten,
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