Legendary jockey Frankie Dettori aims a dig at Cristiano Ronaldo as he announces retirement from horse racing
Frankie Dettori has aimed a dig at the struggling Cristiano Ronaldo as he announced his retirement from horse racing,
The Portuguese has been hugely criticised for his antics at his former club Manchester United as he failed to come to terms with his reduced role under Erik ten Hag. He refused to come on from the bench against Spurs and then gave a controversial interview to Piers Morgan where he publicly slammed the former Ajax manager, Manchester United’s hierarchy, the infrastructure at the club among other things.
The club terminated his contract after the interview. He then reportedly fell out with the Portuguese manager as well and was dropped to the bench for the matches against Switzerland and Morocco.
The 37-year-old is currently a free agent and has travelled to Dubai in order to speed up his hunt for a new club. But there is not much interest in him from the top clubs it seems. The strongest links have been with Saudi club Al-Nassr.
And the legendary jockey Frankie Dettori in his retirement announcement mocked Ronaldo stating that he does not want to end his career in a low like Cristiano Ronaldo.
He told ITV (via Independent):
“Not to make comparisons, but look at Cristiano Ronaldo, he was playing one minute and on the bench the next. I don’t want to end up like that.
“Where I’m struggling to get rides in the big races, at the moment, I still have good horses to ride, and I want to finish it like that.
“Next year, 2023, will be my final professional year as a jockey. It is something I have been thinking about for a while and what an appropriate day to tell the racing world that it is going to be my finale next year.
“My heart wants to carry on riding, but I have to use my brain, I just turned 52, next year I will be 53, I want to stop at the top, be competitive enough to do myself, my owners justice. I’m still in that bracket of being good. Like I said, it’s difficult, but it’s the right time.
“I spoke to Dad at length, my Dad stopped at 51, very supportive, I had to speak to my wife and my children, they were delighted really, they’ve not seen me for 35 years.
“But, yes, I had to come to terms with it, I’ve been thinking about it for a few weeks. I decided with the firepower I have next year with the horses I can ride, I can finish my career on a big note. Fingers crossed I stay in one piece and we’ll give it a good go next year.”
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