England legend Alan Shearer believes that the criticism targeted towards Cristiano Ronaldo this season at Manchester United is unjustifiable.
The 37-year-old decided to return to Old Trafford last summer after leaving the club in 2009 to join Real Madrid.
The Portuguese star started the season impressively but suffered recently amid the Red Devil's poor campaign.
Shearer defended the veteran striker in a piece for the Athletic: "Cristiano must be thinking: 'what am I getting myself into?' He is an incredible player, one of the best in history, but he is already 37 years old. He doesn't like to be left out, because his essence is an incomparable desire to win and a great determination to never be defeated. He wants to play every minute of every game. This also puts pressure on the coach.
"I don't blame him for anything that's going on. The same thing happened to me. At the end of my career I was left out a couple of times and I can't explain how much I hated that. It felt shameful, a humiliation.
"Having Cristiano Ronaldo in the team should be like living a dream for young people.
"If they're not asking him for advice and absorbing everything from him, then they should do it now.
"To me, this is a false narrative. The big questions to answer is United's pathetic defence. Cristiano is not making excuses, he is furious about this chaos and wants something better. What can he ask for? What can they give you?"
