Ronaldo was benched by Portugal before their World Cup match against Switzerland on Tuesday after upsetting manager Fernando Santos with his response to being replaced in a loss to South Korea during the group stage.
Goncalo Ramos, the striker's replacement, scored a superb hat-trick in a 6-1 thrashing of the Swiss, ensuring that Portugal did not suffer for the striker's absence and setting up a quarterfinal match with Morocco.
This season, Ronaldo has stirred up controversy several times. His stormy second stint at United was ended last month by mutual consent after he claimed the team had "betrayed" him in an angry interview with Piers Morgan.
Neville expressed little sympathy for Ronaldo's predicament in an interview with ITV before Portugal's match on Tuesday, saying he must understand the end of his professional career is near.
Neville remarked that the manager had an "unbelievable relationship" with Cristiano Ronaldo for eight years.
"Cristiano Ronaldo does need to listen to the truth, but there are a lot of his followers who aren't willing to tell him the truth,"
It's starting to look rough. He needs to quit acting so abrasively, stomping around, and pouting since it doesn't look good on him at all " He is one of the greatest players of all time, and his long-term legacy is already secured. However, shortly, he needs to perform much better because... Is Juventus' manager mistaken? Is the manager of Manchester United mistaken? Is the Portugal manager now mistaken? Three of them have already treated him in the same manner.
"Like you did twice at United, you leave the game early and stomp off the other day [against South Korea]. He's getting to the stage where he's not really coping with the end of his career."
Portugal was already up 5-1 when Ronaldo, recently heavily linked with a move to Saudi Professional League team Al Nassr, entered the game as a 73rd-minute substitute.
Although Neville thinks Ronaldo's desire to be the best has helped him in the past, he now needs to accept a less important role, according to the five-time Ballon d'Or winner.
Over the past 10 or 15 years, "his single-mindedness has been one of his greatest qualities," Neville continued.
"His fight with [Lionel] Messi, his drive to become one of the best in the world, to score the most goals, to break all the records.
However, there comes a time when you must continue to consider the group, including your teammates in the locker room."