Alan Shearer slams Anthony Taylor for ‘guessing’ on controversial red card decision​

Cristiano Ronaldo has said he believes Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior was unfairly snubbed for this year’s men’s Ballon d’Or award.

Speaking at the Globe Soccer Awards on Friday, Ronaldo said Vinícius deserved the prize over Manchester City‘s Rodri. Vinícius and his Madrid teammates boycotted the ceremony in Paris hosted by France Football magazine.

“In my opinion, he [Vinícius] deserved to win the golden ball [Ballon d’Or award],” Ronaldo said. “It was unfair in my opinion. I say here in front of everybody. They give it to Rodri, he deserved it too, but they should have given it to Vinícius because he won the Champions League and scored in the final.”

Vinícius was later awarded FIFA’s The Best men’s player award earlier this month and won Globe Soccer’s best men’s prize on Friday, while Barcelona star Aitana Bonmati won the women’s player of the year award, her latest such honour.

Ronaldo, who has won five Ballon d’Ors but was not shortlisted for this year’s prize, criticised France Football magazine.

“You know these galas, they always do the same thing,” he said.

Ronaldo then praised Globe Soccer, who named him Best Middle East Player of 2024 on Friday.

The Portugal international has scored 74 goals in 83 games since joining on a free transfer in January 2023 after leaving Manchester United.

Ronaldo took aim at his old club, saying the club is still struggling from issues stemming from more deep-rooted issues.

“The problem of Manchester United is the same,” he said. “The problem is not always the coach. It’s much more than that.

“If you have the fish inside and he’s sick and you take him out and you fix the problem and you put him again in an aquarium you will be sick again.”

Cristiano Ronaldo has insisted that Manchester United‘s problems are not down to new manager Ruben Amorim, and believes he would be able to fix them if he was the club’s owner.

Amorim has lost five of his 10 games in charge of United — including four of the past five in the Premier League — and said ahead of the next game against Newcastle United that his job is not safe.

But Ronaldo, who scored 145 goals over two spells at United but has been critical of the club’s ownership, among other things in recent years, has said his countryman is not to blame.

“The Premier League it’s the most difficult league in the world,” Ronaldo, now playing for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, said at the Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Friday.

“All the teams are good, all the teams fight, all the teams run, all the players are strong. Football is different right now. There’s no easy games anymore.

“I said this one and a half years ago, and I will continue to say it: The problem is not the coaches.

“It’s like an aquarium. If you have the fish inside and he’s sick and you take him out and you fix the problem and you put him again in an aquarium they will be sick again.

“The problem of Manchester United is the same. The problem is not always the coach. It’s much more than that.

“If I will be the owner of the club, I will make things clear and adjust what I think is bad there.”

Ronaldo’s comments followed him hinting at ownership of a “big club” in the near future.

“I’m not a coach. I’m never going to be a coach, president of the club? No. Maybe owner of the club,” he said.

“It will depend on the moment, the right opportunities.”

Asked if he had any in mind, Ronaldo cryptically responded: “Not yet. A few, maybe.”

But questioned about contact with the Glazers directly, Ronaldo said: “I’m still very young, I have so many plans and dreams ahead.

“But mark my words, I will be owner of a big club. For sure.”

Ronaldo left United in 2022 following a public fallout with Erik ten Hag and a TV interview where Ronaldo made a number of explosive claims, including that the owners — the Glazer family — “don’t care about the club.”

Since Ronaldo’s exit, Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos Group have assumed control of football operations, while Ten Hag was sacked before the hiring of Amorim. But Ronaldo still feels problems persist.

Asked about Amorim, the Portugal forward was complimentary as he said: “He did a fantastic job in Portugal with my club Sporting. But the Premier League is a different beast, it’s a different league, it’s the most competitive league in the world.

“I knew it would be tough and they would continue the storm, but the storm will finish and the sun will rise. Fingers crossed things will be good with him and I hope the best for Manchester United because this is a club I still love.”

At the awards, Ronaldo was named Best Middle East Player of 2024 after a strong year in Saudi Arabia.

Bukayo Saka has undergone surgery on a hamstring injury and is set to be sidelined until March, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta confirmed on Friday.

The 23-year-old sustained a tear to the muscle in his right leg during the first half of last Saturday’s 5-1 win at Crystal Palace.

“He had a procedure, everything went well,” Arteta told a news conference after Arsenal’s win over Ipswich. “But unfortunately he will be out for many, many weeks.”

Pushed further to clarify an exact time frame, Arteta said: “I said ‘many weeks’ so I think it will be more than two months. I don’t know exactly how much longer. I think it will depend on how the scar tissue starts to heal the first week or so, the mobility of that. Let’s see. Very difficult to say.”

The Gunners laboured in Saka’s absence as Kai Havertz‘s 23rd-minute close-range finish was enough to move Arteta’s side up into second place, six points adrift of Premier League leaders Liverpool.

Arteta was more upbeat about Raheem Sterling‘s prognosis after Arsenal initially feared the winger would also be sidelined for a lengthy period due to a knee problem.

“The news with Raz I think is better,” he said. “We have to see this week how he evolves, but we expected the knee injury to probably take longer than the way the knee has evolved the last few days. That is good because we need him.”