CRISTIANO RONALDO has admitted that he was delighted to beat Lionel Messi’s tally of Paris Saint-Germain shirt sales when he returned to Manchester United.
The first segment of the forward’s extraordinary TalkTV interview with The Sun’s Piers Morgan aired this evening.
During the programme, Piers brought up Ronaldo‘s remarkable popularity when it comes to shirt sales.
He said: “Two things happened within 24 hours of you re-signing for United.
“One – you broke the all-time record for shirt sales in 24 hours… you actually beat a guy called Messi, you must have been happy about that?”
Ronaldo laughed and replied: “Of course I am happy [laughs].
“As you know, I do not follow the records, the records follow me. Another one in my book.”
Piers then continued: “And the other one was the Manchester United tweet announcing you were re-joining the club was the most liked tweet in Twitter history.”
Ronaldo added: “It’s good, as I told you before it was a good moment that nobody expected – because things changed around in my opinion in 72 hours.”
Moments earlier, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner had revealed just how close he came to joining United’s fierce rivals City.
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He said: “Well, honestly, it was close…
“But as you know, as my history in Manchester United’s, your heart, you’re feeling the way these two that you did before, make the difference. And of course, as well, Sir Alex Ferguson.
“So I was surprised. And the same way, but it was conscious decision. Because the heart speaks, speaking loud in that moment.”
On Sir Alex Ferguson’s influence on the transfer, he added: “I think it was the key.
“It was the difference in that moment, but I cannot be loyal if I will, I wouldn’t say that Manchester City wasn’t close.
“But I think, I did [make] a conscious decision. I don’t regret at some point. And as you mentioned before, Sir Alex Ferguson was the key.”
Asked if he spoke to the legendary Scot, Ronaldo continued: “Yes, I did. I spoke with him…
“He said to me that, ‘It’s impossible for you to come to Manchester City’. And I say, ‘okay, Boss’.
“So I took the decisions and I repeat with very, I was with conscience that it was a good decision.”
