Cristiano Ronaldo set to receive £1 million fine as Manchester United decide on punishment for explosive Piers Morgan interview: Reports

Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo is set to be fined at least £1million for his explosive interview with Piers Morgan, in which he blasted the club's manager and questioned the intentions of a few board members, as per METRO.

Ronaldo accused the club of showing disrespect to him despite his emotional return to the club at the insistence of former manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

A few snippets of the 90-minute long interview were made public right after United's late 2-1 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage in their last Premier League game before the FIFA World Cup break.

Ronaldo was not part of the squad for the game on Sunday as he was reported to be ill. The 37-year-old Portuguese also missed United's 4-2 win over Aston Villa in the third round of the EFL Cup.

The Premier League club said in a statement that they have taken note of the unpleasant comments made by Ronaldo in his interview and will make their stand public after establishing all the facts pertaining to the interview.

However, former players, football pundits and fans stand divided on the issue as they believe that Ronaldo's words will also help bring out the issues that have been plaguing the club for the last decade.

The Portuguese skipper was desperate to leave the English club last summer after scoring 24 goals for the Red Devils across different tournaments in the 2021-22 season. He failed to secure a move away, however.

He was later assured by Manchester United's new manager Erik ten Hag that he will continue to be the main man despite the very different playing style of the Dutch manager, where the Portuguese is not a natural fit.

The situation turned ugly when Ten Hag decided to bench Ronaldo for game after game citing fitness issues and putting Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford in the line-up over him.

The fallout happened when Ronaldo refused to come on as a substitute in Manchester United's clash against Tottenham and left the pitch before the final whistle at home. Ronaldo was fined two weeks' wages for his distasteful reaction and forced to issue an apology to his fellow team members.

It is almost certain that Ronaldo's second stint with Manchester United is over and the Portuguese will join another club after the successful completion of the FIFA World Cup.

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''He still needs better support'' - Piers Morgan responds to Chris Sutton's claims of Cristiano Ronaldo not being a 'team player' after his explosive interview exposing issues at Manchester United

Piers Morgan once again referred to Cristiano Ronaldo 's stats from last season to claim that Ronaldo is still a great player but needs better support than he is given at Manchester United.

He said this while responding to former player-turned-football pundit Chris Sutton, who accused Ronaldo of making himself bigger than the club, claiming that he isn't the player he once was and is certainly not a 'team player'.

Responding to Ronaldo's explosive interview, Sutton said:

''When Ronaldo returned he thought he was bigger than Manchester United… no player is bigger than the club. A very sad end. He simply isn’t the player he once was and can’t except that. He’s shown once again he isn’t a team player…''

Morgan, who interviewed Cristiano Ronaldo, responded to Sutton's take on Twitter and added:

''Ronaldo scored 24 goals last season in a crap United side, 18 in Premier League (1 more than Harry Kane) & 6 in Champions League. He's still a great player, he just needs needs better support than he's been given.''

Manchester United are yet to issue a complete response to the half-released interview as they remain committed to preparing for the second half of the season after the FIFA World Cup break.