Rooney slams Cristiano Ronaldo over Portugal camp walkout

Some locker room exits get forgotten within a couple of days, others leave a mark. Cristiano Ronaldo's walkout from the Portugal squad, it seems, falls into the second category. And this isn't coming from just anyone: it's Wayne Rooney, his former Manchester United teammate during the golden years under Sir Alex Ferguson.

It all started during the last international break. Ronaldo was an unused substitute in the Nations League match against Norway and, after a clash with coach Jorge Jesus over his playing time, decided to leave the Portugal camp. He didn't stop there: he posted a statement on social media apologizing to his teammates, but also accusing Jesus of "breaking his word" and, in the same breath, comparing himself to Pelé and Diego Maradona.

Rooney, a guest on The United Stand, didn't hold back when breaking down what happened. His first reaction was almost disbelief.

My thoughts on Ronaldo are simply, why? It was the same day Messi stepped away from the Argentina national team, and for him to leave the Portugal camp that way and then put out that statement, it's wrong on every level.Wayne Rooney

The English forward went further, zeroing in on how that kind of behavior affects the entire environment around the Portugal squad, not just Ronaldo himself.

Undermining your coach, undermining your teammates like that, that was very wrong. Undermining the Portuguese federation, all of this was wrong.Wayne Rooney

Rooney also drew on his own experience, both as a player and later as a coach. For him, the tricky part isn't the situation itself but how Ronaldo is handling it.

"From a football standpoint, as a teammate and as a coach, it wasn't nice to watch. It comes to every player, you have to end your time in international football and, unfortunately, he isn't dealing with it well. It's uncomfortable to watch," he explained.

One specific criticism that struck a particular nerve

What seems to have bothered Rooney most was a specific part of Ronaldo's statement, the one where he laid out, in his own view, what Jorge Jesus should have said in a press conference when the controversy was starting to brew. "You can't tell a coach what he has to say. That goes beyond anything I've ever seen," he said flatly.

It's worth remembering that Rooney and Ronaldo shared a locker room at United between 2004 and 2009, a spell in which they lifted three Premier League titles and a Champions League together. Ronaldo left for Real Madrid eight years before Rooney finally said goodbye to Old Trafford.

For now, Ronaldo has already been suspended by the Portuguese federation, which opened disciplinary proceedings following the incident. Even so, the striker himself has made clear he will remain available to play for Portugal if called up.