Following his controversial interview with Piers Morgan, Manchester United has begun legal proceedings to sack Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo without the remaining £16M of his deal.

United's lawyers believe Ronaldo's controversial commentagainst the club, the Glazers, manager Erik ten Hag, and his teammates violated the terms of his contract.

After his interview, it is alleged that the team fined Ronaldo £1M and are now making moves to terminate his contract and remove him from the team, with the backing of FIFA. The team have since released a statement this morning regarding the interview.

The statement stated - "Manchester United has this morning initiated appropriate steps in response to Cristiano Ronaldo's recent media interview. We will not make further comments until this process concludes."

United's leadership wanted to wait until the entire TalkTV interview aired - which it did in two sections on Wednesday and Thursday evenings - prior totaking anyaction.

The 37-year-old Portuguese star explained he would reveal his truth in August following his failure to appear in the Pre-season sessions of the team.

He has now stated he has felt "betrayed" by the club and felt as though the higher powers within the club were trying to force him out.

When asked by Piers if he was forced out, Ronaldo responded - "Yes, not only the coach but another two or three guys around the club. I felt betrayed."

He continued - "people should listen to the truth. Yes, I felt betrayed and I felt like some people don't want me here, not only this year but last year too."

Ronaldo also commented on the lack of progression in the club's infrastructure since the departure of successful manager Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013.

He stated - "Since Sir Alex Ferguson left, I saw no evolution in the club, the progress was zero"

"Nothing changed, surprisingly not only the pool, the jacuzzi, even the gym, even [at] some points the technology, the kitchen, the chefs ["] they stopped in a time"

Ronaldo went on to criticise the current manager of the club Erik Ten Hag stating - "I don't have respect for him because he doesn't show respect for me, if you don't have respect for me, I'm never gonna have respect for you."

In the 90-minute-long interview, Ronaldo touched on former Manchester United teammate and England captain Wayne Rooney stating "I don't know why he criticises me so badly... probably because he finished his career and I'm still playing at a high level,"

He added - "I'm not going to say that I'm looking better than him. Which is true".

Ronaldo stated that Manchester United are "not on the path they deserve to be" a view allegedly shared by former manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

"He knows. Everyone knows. The people who don't see that" it's because they don't want to see; they are blind."