Ten Hag criticises Ronaldo for letting teammates down at Man Utd
Former Manchester United coach, Erik Ten Hag, has criticised Cristiano Ronaldo for letting his teammates down during their spell at Old Trafford.
Ronaldo returned to Manchester United for his second spell in 2021, before he left in November 2022 after he criticised the club, and Erik Ten Hag in an interview with Piers Morgan.
Ten Hag has now opened up on the reasons for the disagreement with Ronaldo, which led to his acrimonious departure in November 2022.
He said: “He let the team down, and he let me down, because we planned with him. I flew out to Portugal to speak with him about what I was aiming for before I came to United.
”Obviously, he’s one of the best in football history. I respected him a lot. But at that time, as a manager, I had to make a rational decision.”
The former Ajax manager also accused Ronaldo of pulling out of training sessions due to lack of fitness.
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Ten Hag added: “I confronted him with this. Many times I say, ‘Ronnie, everyone wants to work for you to bring you in the right position, but if you can’t bring yourself in the box, you can’t score’. He was not capable to do this.
“He added that Ronaldo ran neither in possession nor out of possession” because “he didn’t prepare himself” and told teammates to “save your legs at the training.”
“Ronaldo was telling the players: save your legs at training. I understand it when you are top fit, but first you have to train yourself to get into the right fitness levels”
“Every top team has to embrace the top player, but the top player has to work for the team.”
Ten Hag led Manchester United to the League Cup, and the FA Cup during his two-year spell at Old Trafford.
Ronaldo scored 24 goals in his first season for Manchester United after he joined the club from Juventus in August 2021.
