Cristiano Ronaldo did not look pleased to be on Portugal’s bench (Photo: Getty)

Manchester United legend Gary Neville has once again criticised Cristiano Ronaldo for his ‘petulant’ behaviour after he was dropped for Portugal’s World Cup round of 16 clash on Tuesday.

Ronaldo, Portugal’s captain and all-time leading goalscorer, was named on the bench for the match against Switzerland, the first time since Euro 2008 that the forward has not started in a major international tournament.

This comes after a falling out with manager Fernando Santos who was less than impressed with his skipper’s reaction to getting subbed off against South Korea in their final group game.

The incident echoes Ronaldo’s falling out with Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag earlier this season, after he storming out of Old Trafford before full-time in United’s win over Tottenham.

Neville was heavily critical of his former teammate following this, but Ronaldo hit back in his explosive interview with Piers Morgan, which eventually lead to the 37-year-old having his contract terminated by the Red Devils.

While many want the interview and all the trouble it caused to be water under the bridge, Ronaldo’s latest antics have brought the matter up again and Neville provided a brutal assessment of the forward on ITV.

‘Well what happened at United, the suggestion was, it was because Ten Hag was trying to make a move on him [Ronaldo], trying to establish his authority,’ the former United skipper said.

Ronaldo was teammates with Gary Neville at Man Utd from 2003 to 2009 (Photo: Getty)

‘This is a manager [Santos] who’s got an unbelievable relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo for eight years.

‘And there are a lot of fans of Cristiano Ronaldo who aren’t willing to tell him the truth. I think he does need to listen to the truth, that it’s becoming a little bit of a scruffy end.

‘It wouldn’t surprise me if he came on tonight and scored the winner, but the petulance, the stomping around, the sulking it’s got to stop because it doesn’t reflect well on him at all.

‘His long term legacy is set, he’s protected. He’s one of the great all time players.

‘But in the short term, he’s got to do a lot better, because is the Juventus manager wrong? The Manchester United manager wrong? And now is the Portugal manager wrong?

‘There’s three of them that now have done the same thing with him.’

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