Roy Keane and Jamie Carragher had a hot-tempered discussion about Cristiano Ronaldo in the studio on Sunday evening after the draw between Manchester United and Chelsea (1-1). Sky Sports. Interim manager Michael Carrick caused a big surprise by the attacker against the Blues/i> not to give a starting spot. Keane stated that United failed to make it to Ronaldo to win the Premier League, prompting Carragher to question the reason for his arrival.
Where Ronaldo was still allocated a base place from Carrick in the Champions League match with Villarreal (0-2 win), the Portuguese attacker had to do it against Chelsea with a substitute in the 64th minute for Jadon Sancho. Keane criticized Carrick’s decision not to let Ronaldo play from the start, arguing that, given his record and recent form at United, he deserved to start against Chelsea, regardless of the tactics employed.
You don’t want to miss this… ???? Things got VERY heated between @Carra23 and Roy Keane as they discussed Cristiano Ronaldo’s role at Man Utd ??pic.twitter.com/uMBi3jSSvO
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) Nov 28, 2021
“You see a player who has won everything in football. He has come back to Manchester United to take the club to the next level. Of course he wants to play,” said Keane. “You would still expect that if anyone on the pitch can make a difference, it would be Ronaldo. Even at 36. If he had returned and didn’t score, you could still say: ‘He can’t keep up, he doesn’t seem motivated’. But he does seem motivated. Ronaldo is not going to solve Manchester United’s problems, but you can’t bring him back and put him on the bench.”
Keane then got into a heated argument with Carragher, who, like Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, watched the game between Chelsea and United in the studio of Sky Sports analyzed. Carragher questioned United and Paris Saint-Germain’s decisions to sign Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as big stars last summer. According to the former defender, it takes more than attracting a star player. “Is Manchester United closer to the title than last season? No. Is PSG closer to the Champions League with Messi? No. Football is a team sport.”
According to Keane, it is not realistic to think that Ronaldo has been taken to win Premier League titles again. “But what was the point of contracting him then?” asks Carragher. “If you get players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Raphaël Varane, it’s to achieve immediate success and thus compete for the championship. If you don’t want that, just go and play with guys like Jadon Sancho and Mason Greenwood. The only reason they brought Ronaldo was out of sheer panic, because he was on his way to Manchester City.”