SIR ALEX FERGUSON has hit out at Sepp Blatter's claim that Manchester United are treating Cristiano Ronaldo like a slave.
The FIFA president caused outrage with his comments, likening Ronaldo – who only signed a five-year contract with United 12 months ago – to a serf in feudal times.
Pictures of the Portugal winger sunning himself in Los Angeles this week certainly
did not fit that description, although Ronaldo did agree when quizzed about Blatter's comments.
However, Ferguson takes a different view.
"It was an unfortunate statement from someone in such a position," Ferguson said.
"Slavery was abolished many years ago. These days footballers can earn five or six million pounds a year. I do not want to dignify this kind of statement with a response but when you consider the history of slavery, it was a very unfortunate statement."
Ronaldo is not due back in action until October following a recent ankle operation but could return to United's training HQ at Carrington at the end of next month to step up his recovery programme.
Meanwhile, United took the honours in the first of three meetings in a month with Portsmouth with a 2-1 friendly win in Nigeria.
Chris Eagles and Carlos Tevez did the damage for the English and European champions in last night's friendly against the FA Cup winners.
Jermaine Defoe grabbed a last minute strike for Portsmouth but it proved to be too little, too late for Harry Redknapp's men.
The full article contains 250 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
