Cristiano Ronaldo is understood to be “furious” after pulling out a no-hoper in the club’s Cheltenham Gold Cup sweepstake, Paddy Power News understands.
The Portuguese superstar, who Paddy Power News was told “Doesn’t normally get involved with this sort of thing,” stormed out of Carrington earlier this week after hooking out a 100-1 outsider Aye Right ahead of Friday’s big race.
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“I haven’t seen him this p***ed off since the last time he saw a bottle of ketchup in the canteen,” claimed one unnamed source, “and let’s be honest, he’s spent most of the season walking around with a face like a slapped a*se.”
TOPSHOT – Portugal’s forward Cristiano Ronaldo gives a thumbs up after the Euro 2016 final football match between Portugal and France at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on July 10, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / MIGUEL MEDINA (Photo credit should read MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images)
After bagging a hat-trick last weekend against Spurs last weekend, an ecstatic Ronaldo rolled up to training in a brand new Aston Martin worth £200K this week, but Paddy Power News understands that things took a turn for the worse asked by manager Ralf Rangnick to pop a pound into the kitty and select a horse for the Gold Cup in a desperate bid to foster “team morale”.
“You could see Ronnie was reluctant to get involved,” claimed a member of United’s first-team squad, “but Ralf kept pushing and pushing claiming it would be more fun than attending a 14-day symposium on the debate between zonal and man-marking from set-pieces in the modern game if he took part.”
However, things did not go as planned when Ronaldo was left with the longest shot in the race.
“It was chaos in the changing room – Ronnie was seething with Ralf and demanded that he give him another go because he got the worst horse in the race!
“When Ralf said it would cost another quid, Cris exploded.
“There were Louis Vuitton man-bags all over the gaff. Some of the lads ended up having to go home wearing odd socks.”
Leipzig’s German headcoach Ralf Rangnick addresses a press conference on the eve of the German Cup (DFB Pokal) Final football match RB Leipzig v FC Bayern Munich at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on May 24, 2019. (Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP) (Photo credit should read JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images)
We also understand that Ronaldo hadn’t calmed down by the time United were due to kick-off against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
“Ronnie’s stopped speaking to everyone,” the same player told us, “He cut off the ends of his socks and nailed his trainers to the dressing-room floor on Tuesday night.
“And that’s before we lost!”
The club are understood to be brokering desperate negotiations among the squad to give the Portuguese superstar a better runner in Friday’s showpiece event.
“Juan Mata’s got the fav”, we were told, “All he wants for swapping it with Ronnie is another seemingly inexplicable contract extension.”
“Paul (Pogba’s) got a decent shot too and could be interested in a couple of million of CR7’s Instagram followers in exchange for the pick.”
*Paddy Power’s breaking news coverage is 100% fake news, and that’s the truth – honest*
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