Cristiano Ronaldo praised Diogo Dalot during his interview aired last week

The majority of the Manchester United squad has almost certainly seen the last of Cristiano Ronaldo, but for two of his colleagues, there will remain close contact in the Portugal camp and the process of moving on from his derogatory comments. The majority of the Manchester United squad has almost certainly seen the last of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo made an unannounced appearance at a press conference for Portugal held in Qatar earlier on Monday. He was attempting to defuse the tension between himself and Bruno Fernandes and insist that their curt greeting from the previous week was actually just a joke.

The fact that Ronaldo gave an unapproved interview to Piers Morgan and made disparaging remarks about the club, Erik ten Hag, and his own teammates gives Fernandes every reason to feel indignant in his role as the de facto captain of United.

Fernandes is undeniably a more influential player for Manchester United when Cristiano Ronaldo is not in the lineup, and the departure of the 37-year-old forward is most likely going to be beneficial for the midfielder. When the forward was asked about the United teammates who might have earned his admiration, Fernandes's name was conspicuously absent from the list, which gave the game away.

But while the focus of Ronaldo's 90-minute public relations exercise with Morgan has been on the story he's trying to spin, there was one United teammate who would have been happy with Ronaldo's comments. That teammate is Wayne Rooney.

Despite the fact that Ronaldo is 14 years older than Diogo Dalot, the two Portugal teammates have developed a strong friendship. This friendship has come as a surprise to many. During the interview, Ronaldo was critical of the current crop of young players, but he made sure to single out Dalot for special praise.

"If you ask me what I see in Manchester United, I can probably mention Dalot as one of the things I see. One such individual is Diogo Dalot. Although he is still young, he conducts himself in an extremely professional manner "he said.

Because he is young, smart, intelligent, and very professional, I have no reason to doubt that he will have a long career in football."

It might seem like faint praise now, given how unpopular Ronaldo is around Carrington; however, it is still significant for Dalot, and there is more to it than the experienced player defending one of his friends. Everyone at United has been able to observe the progress that Dalot has made in his game over the course of this season.

There is a certain amount of irony in the fact that Dalot's emergence has come under the tutelage of Ten Hag, a manager whom Ronaldo has attempted to metaphorically throw under the bus on more than one occasion this month. However, Dalot has improved so much as a result of his professionalism to take on new ideas and his intelligence to implement them.

Ten Hag expects a lot from his full-backs, and Dalot has responded well to the challenges he's faced. He moves into the middle of the field when the opposing team has possession of the ball and has proven to be a danger not only as an overlapping fullback, but in every facet of the game.

It speaks volumes that Dalot has only been suspended for one game so far this season, as he has only missed one game overall. Even though there is no one else competing for the right-back position, he has managed to carve out a niche for himself there, and any new players who are brought in will be doing so in order to compete with him rather than to assume the role of automatic starter.

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