Cristiano Ronaldo silenced a lot of doubters during Manchester United 3-2 Arsenal.There has been so much debate surrounding the five-time Ballon d'Or winner this season with many fans and pundits alike genuinely wondering whether the Red Devils were to right him or not.In fact, it was a topic that became a heated talking point after United's 1-1 draw at Chelsea at the weekend with Jamie Carragher and Roy Keane going viral for an impassioned back and forth.
Carragher's Ronaldo comments
With Michael Carrick having benched Ronaldo at Stamford Bridge, Carragher floated the argument that it shouldn't be a major story every time the Portuguese, now 36, doesn't start for United.
During the intense conversation, the Liverpool legend remarked: "I think this idea that Ronaldo has to start every game and play every minute of every game I don't think is right.
"Going away in big games I can understand why Michael Carrick never started him against Chelsea.
"You saw when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer brought him off in Switzerland in an early group game, they were down to 10 men in the game, they brought him off and they lost the game because of a Jesse Lingard bad back pass.
"There was this big story that he brought Ronaldo off. He's 36. He then didn't start him against Everton and Ronaldo walked down the tunnel.
"Now, Ronaldo's not the player he was. He's still obviously delivering for Man Utd in terms of goals, but I don't think it should be a big story if Ronaldo doesn't start every game or at times comes off in a game of football."
Truth be told, it was an insightful and well-reasoned point by Carragher, but one that won't have aged well in the eyes of some when you consider just how crucial Ronaldo was against Arsenal.
Ronaldo ruthlessly notched the 800th and 801st goals of his career to elevate United to a crucial Premier League win at Old Trafford, which at one point looked unlikely given Arsenal's quick start.
Evra fires back at Carragher
And the 36-year-old's emphatic performance prompted United legend Patrice Evra to fire shots at Carragher for his previous comments on Ronaldo during Amazon Prime's coverage of the game.
Evra even went viral across social media for pointing out that Carragher - who has previously argued for Lionel Messi as the GOAT - played fewer career games than Ronaldo has scored goals.
Reflecting on Ronaldo's brace, the 40-year-old calmly said: “There’s a lot of talk about this player, and I already don’t understand it.
“Some players like Jamie Carragher, he had I think 775 games, Cristiano today scored 801 goals, and those kind of people talk about Cristiano.
“Sometimes I think people just have to stay in their lane, and I just don’t understand that hate. Some people just wake up and want to talk about Cristiano.”
Ronaldo silencing his doubters
Do you want to know the remarkable thing? Carragher genuinely played exactly 775 career games with 737 outings to his name with Liverpool as well as 38 caps for England to round things off.
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Either that's the mother of all coincidences or Evra had done his research in preparation for Ronaldo, in his eyes, proving Carragher wrong for some of the analyses he's delivered recently.
Truth be told, there are far more layers of detail to the situation than Evra's jibe might suggest, but there's no denying that Ronaldo left a very clear message for the doubters with his Arsenal double.
