Cristiano Ronaldo latest: Will Man United star be punished by Erik ten Hag ahead of Chelsea match?

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OLD TRAFFORD, MANCHESTER — Cristiano Ronaldo managed to grab some of the headline space following Manchester United’s victory over Tottenham Hotspur despite not playing in the match.

The Red Devils ran out 2-0 winners at Old Trafford against Spurs, Fred and Bruno Fernandes scoring the goals in a dominant performance that was easily among the best they have produced under manager Erik ten Hag.

The Dutchman dropped Ronaldo from his starting lineup for the visit of Antonio Conte’s side, and the veteran forward was not among the United players who celebrated the result in front of jubilant supporters at full-time.

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Cristiano Ronaldo leaves Spurs game early

With United cruising to a 2-0 victory, Cristiano Ronaldo decided to leave the match early rather than stay until the end to celebrate an impressive win with his teammates.

The Portugal star exited down the touchline and into the tunnel before the final whistle.

The word on the ground is that, although he did not exactly storm out of Old Trafford, he did not stop to sign autographs for some of the fans who had begun to gather around the players’ entrance in anticipation of the end of the match.

Ronaldo, who was dropped from the starting lineup for the visit of Spurs, was overlooked as a substitute as Ten Hag instead introduced Scott McTominay, Anthony Elanga and Christian Eriksen off the bench to see out the win.

The reaction was largely one of disappointment with Ronaldo’s actions. “There was a game, a magnificent game for Man United. The story shouldn’t be Ronaldo walking off,” former Arsenal star Thierry Henry said on Amazon Prime Sport.

His old United teammate, Patrice Evra, countered: “I want to stay on the United performance. It’s not to protect Cristiano — we don’t know if he said to Ten Hag, ‘I’m going in’. I don’t want to find any excuse, but I want to be focused more on the performance of Man United. We have to stop talking every day about Cristiano.” 

What did Erik ten Hag say about Ronaldo?

Ten Hag was asked about Ronaldo’s actions after the match. The United manager, to his credit, seemed determined not to allow the five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s early departure to distract from his team’s performance.

Indeed, the former Ajax boss agreed that this was United’s best performance of 2022/23 — a performance that came without Ronaldo in the team.

He told a post-match press conference: “I didn’t pay attention [to that] today. We deal with that tomorrow. I want to get the focus on this team — it was a magnificent performance from all 11 players. I have to correct myself — it was the subs who came on as well. It was a squad performance.

“We deal with it [Ronaldo] tomorrow. What we’ve seen today was 11 players who defend, 11 players who attack, a lot of dynamic. I’m pleased with that. I will not say I am totally satisfied; good is not good enough. That has to be the standard here.

“It was the best team performance this season. We’ve seen we’re developing but we already see the last weeks the way we want to play. We’re getting better every time on the pitch. Spurs are a magnificent team this season but it was really enjoyable to watch that.”

Will Ronaldo play against Chelsea?

Less than 24 hours after Ronaldo headed down the tunnel, United issued a brief statement about how they would be dealing with the incident… and it’s bad news for the former Real Madrid man.

A statement from United said: “Cristiano will not be part of the Manchester United squad for this Saturday’s game against Chelsea. The rest of the squad is fully focused on preparing for that fixture.”

The Athletic claim he will also be made to train alone from the rest of his team-mates this week with reports suggesting he refused to come on as a substitute against Tottenham.

It is thought the decision was made by Ten Hag and has been backed by the club’s hierarchy.

Why didn’t Ronaldo play against Tottenham?

Ronaldo started the 0-0 draw with Newcastle United at Old Trafford last weekend but was substituted in the second half for Marcus Rashford. He took his seat in the dugout after disconsolately shaking his head, having struggled to make an impact in the game.

Ten Hag felt Rashford had a big impact against the Magpies and decided the England forward was the best option against Spurs. He was repaid for his decision by a fine performance from the 24-year-old, who led the United attack superbly and was only denied a goal by some inspired goalkeeping from Hugo Lloris.

“Against this Tottenham, you need good pressing, you need good counter-press because from there you can create chances,” Ten Hag explained. “So, we need good pressing players, and offensive-wise, you need dynamic. That is what Marcus can bring.

“You can see from the last 20 minutes against Newcastle, he changed the game: more dynamic, more gaps.”

MORE: Premier League top goal scorers 2022-2023: Updated golden boot rankings

Has Ronaldo done this before?

This is not the first time Ronaldo has left a United match early.

In the preseason friendly draw at home to Rayo Vallecano, he chose to leave the game at halftime, having played the first 45 minutes before being substituted. On this occasion, he was not the only United player to do so.

Ten Hag was not happy with those who left the game early, describing their behaviour at the time as “unacceptable”.

That had been Ronaldo’s first appearance under the new United manager. He had missed their preseason tour due to a family issue and had been unable to force through the transfer he wanted following United’s disappointing 2021/22 season.

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