Now watch Ron grovel at United

Forgive Me! ... Cristiano Ronaldo is on the grovel after deciding to stay at Old Trafford

CRISTIANO RONALDO sank to new depths of hypocrisy yesterday with a shameless display of blatant grovelling.

Having spent the summer saying he wanted to join Real Madrid, Ron insisted: “I never wanted to leave against United’s will.

"When they turned down the offer, the people at United made it very clear how much they wanted me.

"I didn’t fully understand it at the time — but now I can really appreciate it.”

His feelings for boss Alex Ferguson were even more moving.

In a declaration of unabashed love, the 23-year-old winking winger added: “Believe me, it makes me proud to know how much he thinks of me.

“And he knows I feel exactly the same way about him.

“He has been one of the most important people in my playing career.

“Not only because of what I’ve learnt and continue to learn from him in sporting terms but also in human ones as well.

“I love the passion he has for football. If it were humanly possible I would like to have him always by my side.

“Of course it’s not possible but it shows how much affection, admiration and respect I have for him.

“He has always been like a second father to me at United. I’ll never forget it was him that explained the significance of the United No 7 shirt, which will always be my shirt.

“Alongside my agent, Sir Alex has been the most important person I’ve known in my career.

“Because of this, because of the special relationship that exists between us, I know he’ll understand that there are times when a father has to worry only about what’s best for his child.”

Asked if he is afraid of the reception he might get when he next plays, Ronaldo replied: “No, it’s possible but I hope it doesn’t happen.

“I know I’m a good professional, I know no one’s harder on me than myself and that’s never going to change, under any circumstances.

“I’m very aware of what this club has done for me.

“I’ll be forever grateful. United and its fans can be sure I’ll never forget them, no matter what happens.”

Putting his hand on his heart, the Portugal star added: “They’re special and they’ll always have a place here.”

Ronaldo would have cost a world-record £75million had a deal been reached with Real.

And he added: “I confess one of the reasons I had the courage to say what I did was the fact United would be compensated.

“The figure mentioned would serve as some compensation for the debt of gratitude I owe the club, at least in material terms.

“If we hadn’t been European champions I probably wouldn’t have even thought about going to Madrid.

“But after we’d won the Champions League I felt I’d helped win everything there was to win. We’d won the Premier League twice and I’d won a host of individual awards.

“So I felt I needed a new challenge.

“I never hid the fact I wanted to play in Spain — at Real Madrid in particular. I thought this could be the right moment.

“People have to understand at the age of 18 I arrived at United but even at that moment, I was thinking about playing in England for some years and THEN going to play in Spain.

“Why lie? I’m not going to be a hypocrite. I said exactly what I thought. I have a dream of playing at Real and people can’t be upset about me fulfilling a childhood dream.”

the sun