Everton’s Andros Townsend Reveals What Cristiano Ronaldo Told Him When He Stormed Off Pitch

The Portuguese superstar seemed enraged following Saturday’s draw with Everton. Ronaldo appeared on the pitch in the second half; however, the 36-year-old didn’t manage to secure victory for the Red Devils.

Everton midfielder Andros Townsend has revealed details of a conversation he had with Cristiano Ronaldo after Saturday's game. The Portuguese striker ignored Townsend when the latter approached him after the final whistle. The Toffees' midfielder patted Ronaldo on the shoulder, but the United player appeared to take little notice of him and was seen muttering something as he stormed off the pitch.

Warning! The following video contains strong language.

Townsend did Ronaldo’s celebration in front of him and consoled him after. This violation 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/45KBgPvWf6

— • (@The_Gerrard_Era) October 2, 2021

Sports pundits and media speculated that the Portuguese player was either mad that Townsend had copied his signature goal celebration after scoring an equaliser or frustrated that the Red Devils failed to secure victory.

Speaking to the Talksport radio station, Townsend revealed that he had made it his goal to not leave the stadium without getting Ronaldo’s shirt and approached the athlete for this reason.

"You saw after the final whistle, I ran straight to him, I don’t know what he was muttering. He was muttering in Portuguese", Andros Townsend said.

According to him, he had to ask Ronaldo three or four times to get the shirt before the Portuguese star gave in and "said he would give it inside".

Townsend believes that Ronaldo didn’t see him copying his signature celebration, otherwise he said jokingly: "If he had seen the celebration, there was no way I was getting that shirt".

The athlete previously revealed that he decided to imitate Ronaldo’s move in order to express respect for the player.

"This guy is my idol. I grew up watching Cristiano Ronaldo and I spent hours on the training pitch trying to execute his techniques”, he said, before saying that his teammates told him to perform the move when Everton scored a winning move. "I got a bit carried away, almost buckled and fell on my back, I looked up at the clock and it was 65 minutes. I gave the greatest player half an hour to make me look silly and score the winner. Thankfully he didn’t", Townsend said.

Andros Townsend at Everton:
▪️ 9 games
▪️ 5 goals
▪️ 1 Cristiano celebration

☠️ pic.twitter.com/f96aKr7Ahz

— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 2, 2021

Immense Pressure on Solskjaer

Ronaldo storming off the pitch was criticised by the club's former defender Gary Neville, who played with the Portuguese star during his first move to Manchester. Neville, who captained the team for five years, said the player’s behaviour may have sent the wrong signal.

“I watched him walk off and I can't say I like it. He walked off the pitch muttering to himself, which throws the questions up in the air - what's he saying? Who is he annoyed with? It can only come back to the manager. Actions like that - and Cristiano is smart enough to know this - will bring real pressure on the manager, more pressure than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is already under”, Neville said.

He stressed that the coaching staff has to explain to Ronaldo how to rein in his temper in order to avoid situations that may lead to controversy.

"Cristiano is not always going to score, he's maybe not going to play every single game. But I think if he walks off like that, it's going to put immense pressure on Solskjaer. There's no doubt the talk after the game was about the manager”, Neville said.

Manchester United are now fourth, lagging two points behind leaders of the table Chelsea.