Wayne Rooney breaks silence after Cristiano Ronaldo brands ex-Man Utd team-mate a ‘rat’ in Piers Morgan interview

WAYNE ROONEY has hit back at Cristiano Ronaldo after being branded a "rat" by his former team-mate.

In an interview with Sun columnist Piers Morgan, Ronaldo spoke of the criticism he receives from former team-mates, including Rooney and Gary Neville.

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Ronaldo revealed that he could not understand the criticism, and suggested they were no longer his friends before labelling Rooney a "rat".

Rooney was asked about the interview while attending the 2022 Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai.

The United legend responded saying: "Well, listen, Cristiano Ronaldo's a fantastic player and, as I've said before, he and Messi are the two best players probably to play the game.

"And, again, it's not a criticism. What I've said is age comes to all of us, and Cristiano is obviously feeling now that he's finally had to deal with that.

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"Obviously, he's done an interview, and it's gone global, and it's strange, some of the comments are strange.

"But I'm sure Manchester United will deal with it once they've seen the full interview, and they will take whatever action they need to take."

The insult came after Morgan claimed he was trying to figure out how Rooney could dislike Ronaldo even more.

Morgan began by asking: “More pounds in the bank or more Instagram followers?”

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Ronaldo, while laughing responded: “That’s a good question! Probably similar!”

Morgan then said: “I’m just trying to work out how Wayne Rooney could hate you even more!”

Ronaldo replied: “Not only him, imagine the rest of the rats they are going to criticise me too, but it is good to still be the number one.”

The pair's once strong relationship started to deteriorate following Rooney's criticism of Ronaldo's behaviour after he refused to come onto the pitch in a match against Tottenham.

The pair did use to be close during their time together at Old Trafford.

Rooney revealed back in February that they used to be the squad pranksters at United.