Gary Neville insists he and his United team-mates will
close ranks to protect under-fire Cristiano Ronaldo this
season.
The Portuguese winger has attracted much criticism in England for
his perceived attempt to have Wayne Rooney sent off at the World
Cup.
Neville, however, is adamant that the 21-year-old star is merely
the latest in a line of United players vilified by an English media
used to pointing the finger of blame.
"I saw the incident after the game with Portugal. I saw exactly
what happened with what Wayne did and I saw exactly what
Cristiano's reaction was," Neville told Sky Sports News.
"I don't have a problem with Cristiano for that, I swapped shirts
with him after that.
"The English will always come up with excuses and scapegoats for
why they haven't won and this time it was Cristiano.
"The reason we lost the game was because Wayne got sent off, which
he knows about, we didn't score the penalties and we didn't get the
goal.
"It was nothing to do with Cristiano why we didn't win that
tournament."
For Ronaldo this year, read David Beckham in 1998 and Phil Neville
in 2000 as United players vilified after England's premature
departure from a major tournament.
And the elder Neville is adamant that Ronaldo will benefit from the
tight-knit United community in the same way as those before
him.
"We always protect our own," said Gary. "Right the way back to
David Beckham coming back from a tournament, my brother in 2000, it
has always been the case where United will protect its own
players.
"It happened again this summer with Cristiano and Wayne, but he is
at the right place and he'll be protected by the manager, who is
brilliant at doing that.
"The players will never have any problem. What happens in an
international game has got nothing to do with what happens at
Manchester United."
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