"He's not answered my calls…" Gary Neville says Cristiano Ronaldo has taken his criticism to heart

Gary Neville has joked that Cristiano Ronaldo is not answering his calls following their fallout during the end of CR7's time at Manchester United.

Ronaldo snubbed his former team-mate before United's win against West Ham at Old Trafford, days after Neville claimed the forward was heading for a "messy end" at the club. 

Neville has since joked that he's "off the Christmas card list" – so when ITV presenter Laura Woods asked him if Ronaldo was still blanking him, Neville laughed and called Woods "cheeky". 

"He's not answered my calls, no – I don't think anyone is out here," he laughed. "Look, [Ronaldo's] responded to criticism, he's not liked what happened in Manchester, he feels as though people have turned on him. His homeland, now, Portugal absolutely adore him. We need Ronaldo, Messi and Mbappe, all the big stars coming to a head in this tournament because something's going to have to give at some point.

"I watched the Portugal game the other day, I thought first half, the balance of the team was poor where they had Bruno Fernandes on the right with Cristiano Ronaldo up front. That didn't work, we've seen that at United. When [Rafael] Leao came on, Joao Felix and Cristiano were playing [William] Carvalho in midfield and Cristiano moved inside [closer] to Bernardo Silva, they looked pretty good, Portugal. I think that's the way forward for them.

"They're a good team, Portugal and they've got a man up front with a monster mentality. He'll believe that this is is their moment. He'll think he's winning this World cup, he'll be believe that and that will transmit to his team-mates. 

"He's done that with the Champions League – when Barcelona were so great, he won three Champions Leagues there because he delivers in the big moments. Nothing would surprise me in this tournament from him, although I think it was right he left United and right that United let him go as well. 

Portugal take on Uruguay at 7pm.