The facade of Old Trafford has been defaced with a huge banner of Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo, a star for Manchester United.
Cranes were at the United stadium on Wednesday to assist in removing the Ronaldo poster from the Old Trafford forecourt. This happened on the same day that the first part of Ronaldo’s explosive interview with Piers Morgan is set to air.
But the Manchester Evening Standard says that the poster was always going to be taken down this week since the finals of the men’s and women’s Rugby League World Cup will be held at the stadium on Saturday.
Manchester United will now use the massive space above the megastore at the forecourt for advertising before the big final. The women’s final between Australia and New Zealand is at 1:15 p.m., and the men’s final between Australia and Samoa is at 4 p.m.
Pictures of Ronaldo’s poster being torn down have gotten much attention after it came out that he gave an explosive interview with Piers Morgan. The full interview will be shown on TalkTV on Wednesday and Thursday nights.
On Sunday night, the first clips of the interview were posted on social media. In them, Ronaldo said that the club “betrayed” him, and the forward said that he didn’t respect Erik ten Hag.
The interview came out just a few hours after Manchester United beat Fulham 2-1 in their last Premier League game before the World Cup break. Ronaldo and the rest of Portugal’s team are now in Qatar, where the tournament starts on Sunday.
United made a statement Monday after the first clips from the interview were released. It said, “Manchester United notes the media coverage regarding an interview by Cristiano Ronaldo. The club will consider its response after the full facts have been established.”