The trouble with a feud between two alpha males is that both will want to have the last word.
But in an age of 24 hour rolling news and social media, the last word never really comes, does it?
Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho are arguably the greatest player and manager of their times. Both are Portuguese, and both have the highest level of utter self confidence, sometimes known as arrogance.
Put two men like that together and there will always be fireworks, which is exactly what happened when the pair were at Real Madrid together.
Now they have parted ways, but they have not stopped talking about each other and now Ronaldo has appeared to hit back in the latest tit for tat exchange.
This weekend Mourinho claimed Ronaldo’s touchline antics during the Euro 2016 final were not helpful to his team-mates.
“Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t help in any way by doing that in the final few minutes of the Euros final,” Mourinho told Portugal’s SporTV. “There were 11 players on the pitch doing their job, and the person in charge of directing them was the coach.
“I saw it as an overload of emotion from someone who saw that the team was just minutes away from achieving an objective which everyone wanted.”
“He lost a little emotional control — not that that’s a bad thing,” Mourinho continued. “But what my experience tells me is that it is in these moments, when important decisions might need to be made, that the players are lost in their own little worlds.”
So naturally Ronaldo has decided to live and let live, yes?
Well… no.
After Mourinho’s comments he posted this picture on his Instagram account, with the caption: “Quick remind”.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BIu444YAZzy/?taken-by=cristiano
It’s all so very mature.