An angry Cristiano Ronaldo showed his frustration in Manchester United’s win over Tottenham for not being involved in action by storming down the tunnel even before the full-time whistle was blown. Though the Red Devils played some brilliant football in a long time during their 2-0 triumph over the Spurs, all the headlines belonged to the 37-year-old forward for his antics. Many of the club’s supporters as well as former players were enraged by Ronaldo’s such behaviour, but he may find some solace in Thierry Henry and Patrice Evra who in some capacity defended his actions.
It has been a tough season for Ronaldo so far, having started just 2 games out of 8 he has been available for in the Premier League. Further on, he also is missing from the Champions League for the first time in his senior career and plying his trade in the second tier Europa League with United. His numerous efforts to quit Old Trafford over the summer for the same reason too were supressed by the club as he took out all his anger during the Spurs win. After earning a starting spot in the last game against Newcastle, it was expected the forward will keep his place against Spurs, only for Ten Hag to bench him for the sixth time this season.
Henry, Evra urge United fans to focus on the win than Cristiano Ronaldo
While Cristiano Ronaldo may have fetched himself the unwanted limelight with his antics, it was United’s dominating performance against Spurs which should have been the talk of the town. The supporters were rather divided in two as some thought Ten Hag disrespected Ronaldo by not starting or involving him, while others slammed the five-time Ballon d’Or for not being happy for the team. Ten Hag has come at crossroads with the Portugal captain after handing him just 340 minutes out of a possible 720 in the Premier League ahead of the all important World Cup next month.
Moreover, it is highly likely that the situation won’t experience a turnaround before January when the former Real Madrid star is slated to once again try and achieve a move away from United. Meanwhile, Arsenal legend Thierry Henry and Ronaldo’s former teammate Patrice Evra have asked the fans to stop talking about the forward every other day and rather focus on the achievements of the Devils. The two were in a conversation on Amazon Prime Video Sport post the Man United-Tottenham game, as Henry said:
“I don’t know [about how to deal with the Ronaldo incident], that’s something the manager is going to have to deal with. There was a game, a magnificent game for Manchester United, the story shouldn’t be Ronaldo walking off. [No he doesn’t make the story], not for me, not for me.
It is not an easy one, but for the boss, he is here for the team, not Cristiano Ronaldo. Cristiano is part of the team and you need to find that solution. At times, he has to play without him and what’s difficult is when people talk about him, he will talk about what he has done in the game and not many people can sit on his table who have achieved what he has, but it is about what he is currently doing and what he is doing is not what he used to.”
Evra while siding with his former rival and fellow compatriot during the discussion opined:
“I think everyone is different, I want to stay on the performance, it’s not to protect Cristiano or whatever. We don’t know if he even said to Ten Hag, I’m going in and we’re going to make a story just showing him walking. Maybe he said to Ten Hag I’m going inside to do some treatment so I don’t want to find any excuse but I want to be focused more on the performance of Man Utd, we need to stop talking every day about Cristiano.
“[But] I would have to start him. One interview from Ten Hag after the game against Manchester City and why he didn’t bring him on was because he respected his character. If he respected his character, he would surely have to play him and play him every time.”
The tensions between Ronaldo and Ten Hag could now escalate here after the player’s this conduct of leaving before the game finished. This could also put the Portugal international’s any involvement against Chelsea in the next game in jeopardy, as Ten Hag would now think twice before handing him any minutes following his unpleasant behaviour.