Broncos receiver Emmanuel Sanders will return to Pittsburgh Sunday for the first time to face his former quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, but the two didn’t separate on great terms.

When Sanders arrived in Denver before the 2014 season, he made a comment about Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning being a far better leader than Roethlisberger.

Roethlisberger was hurt by the comments and hoped Sanders would try to smooth things over. Roethlisberger addressed the situation again Wednesday. He said he had no hard feelings, but what Sanders had said surprised him.

“I’m not sure why Emmanuel, still up to this day, he never reached out to me,” Roethlisberger said. “I was always on his side and in his corner when he was down or things weren’t going well.”

Sanders confirmed that he hadn’t called Roethlisberger, but said his former quarterback never called him, either.

“That’s all in the past, man. I don’t know why it’s still a problem,” Sanders said. “My comments were all toward Peyton. No disrespect toward Ben.”

Cameron Wolfe: cwolfe@denverpost.com or @CameronWolfe