Cantona: Cristiano Ronaldo still doesn't realise he's not 25 years old any more
Sophia Edwards Cristiano Ronaldo has left Manchester United following a difficult second spell and has moved to Saudi Arabia to sign with Al Nassr.
Eric Cantona, who retired just before turning 31, believes that Ronaldo is a very different kind of footballer to him, as the Portuguese isn't willing to accept that he is losing his skills with age.
Ronaldo and Messi could line up against each other in exhibition matchLAPRESSE
"He came back here and Manchester United wasn't the Manchester United he left and sometimes he doesn't realise things changed, so maybe he was surprised so many things changed," Cantona said in an interview with the Manchester Evening News.
"I think you have two kinds of players at the end of their career. Me, I decided to retire young, that's another thing.
"And then the one who wants to play and play until the age of 40 years old.
"You have two kind of players. You have the one who wants to play every game because they still think they're 25 years old and the ones who realise they are not 25 years old and they are here to help the young players.
"They know they will not play every game, they know they will play some games, but their part is to help the young players, like Zlatan Ibrahimovic still does with AC Milan, or Ryan Giggs or Paolo Maldini did.
"But I think Ronaldo didn't realise, and he still doesn't realise, that he's not 25 years old.
"He's just older and he should have realised that instead of being not happy to play some games, say, 'okay, I am not 25 years old, I cannot play every game, but I will help the young players and accept that situation and that's my situation'."
Cantona reflects on growing old
Speaking in a more general sense, Cantona reflected on his own life and acceptance of getting older.
"You have to accept [growing older] in everything we do, not only in football," he added.
"I cannot run as fast as when I was 30 years old, I have to accept it. I have to accept I will die someday.
"It's difficult to accept it but we have to. And the end of a career is like dying. It's a little death.
"You can sing until you're 80 years old, you can act until you're 80 years old, but footballers or sportsmen know that, after 30 or 33 or so, it becomes physically more difficult every day.
"You have to accept that, or you retire or you say I will help the young generation."
