Well, it’s pretty much confirmed (for anyone who still doubted) that Ronaldo’s done with United now. The final part of the Cristiano Ronaldo interview with Piers Morgan finished today and it revealed that Ronaldo was desperate to get out of Manchester United from the get-go of the ten Hag era.
If we’ve learned anything from this two-part Ronaldo interview its: A) Piers Morgan is a dreadful interviewer when he speaks to someone he’s friends with, B) Ronaldo still sees himself as one of the very best players in the world in spite of his goal-scoring struggles, C) Ronaldo still loves the United fans, D) Ronaldo only has two years left in football, and E) the relationship between Erik ten Hag and Cristiano Ronaldo was a match made in hell!
Obviously, we’ve already covered the Piers Morgan stuff yesterday, so I’ll set that aside for another day. As for the second observation, this second half to the interview clearly shows that Cristiano Ronaldo believes that he’s not only still the best player on Manchester United, but that he’s also still among the Top-5 best players in the world.
A large portion of this part was spent talking about Ronaldo and his relationship with ten Hag and how silly it is for his former United teammates to have criticized him in the media (such as Wayne Rooney and Gary Neville), which is telling in its own right.
Now, I’m as big of a Ronaldo fan as anyone, but his stats for this season have not been skewered by Neville, Rooney, or ten Hag. Simply put, he’s not scored enough goals to justify a place in the starting lineup game after game. And most definitely not a place in the conversation as one of the best players in the world…at the moment.
So, when Gary Neville and Wayne Rooney criticized him for his performances, which must be painful as they were once close teammates of his, it’s honestly justified. Cristiano Ronaldo has just not scored enough goals this season.
I mean, Piers Morgan kept going back to how Ronaldo scored 24 goals in all competitions last season as a way to retort Neville and Rooney’s criticism, but that doesn’t explain or justify why Ronaldo has only scored 3 goals (two in the Europa League) this season. And, for a man who made his godly (in the football world) reputation on scoring loads of goals, he’s done everything but score this season.
Thus, I’ve got to push back at Cristiano Ronaldo for his complaints about Rooney and Neville, though they were quite funny. Plus, it really was Piers Morgan who was putting Wayne Rooney and Gary Neville’s name in Ronaldo mouth throughout the interview, so I’m not sure if he would have brought those two up if Morgan didn’t do so.
Now, for the big headline from this interview, Cristiano Ronaldo’s relationship with new United manager Erik ten Hag. Or, should I say, Ronaldo and ten Hag’s seething hatred for one another as these two couldn’t have been more polar opposites of each other.
We probably should have seen this coming as the iconic, ‘showboaty’, eccentric Cristiano Ronaldo was never going to fit into the hardworking, minimalist, cards-close-to-the-vest system of Erik ten Hag. Ten Hag’s no-nonsense mantra immediately rubbed off on Ronaldo the wrong way as I’m 1000% sure he was one of the guys who doubted Ronaldo over his daughter’s hospital stay during the offseason.
And I don’t blame ten Hag for doing so.
If you look at it from his perspective, the only headlines surrounding the great CR7 all of last offseason was that he wanted to get out of Manchester as soon as possible. So, when he heard that Ronaldo was not going to show up for the preseason tour, he must have thought that he was ‘going on strike’ for a move away.
On the other hand, I also don’t blame Ronaldo for being upset with ten Hag.
Ever since ten Hag has been at Manchester United, he has disrespected Ronaldo. First off, he refused to start him after the 4-0 Brentford defeat, which was not Ronaldo’s fault at all. Secondly, whenever he did start him, he only did so in the Europa League against minnow teams like Omnia and Sheriff.
Obviously, if you’re used to playing against the greats of Europe and scoring Champions League and league title winning goals, being forced to only start against Omnia and Sheriff in the Europa League is a massive but subtle insult. So, when ten Hag also doubted that his daughter was gravely ill as a ploy to leave the club, it only makes sense that he’d grow to resent the Dutchman.
These two should never have been forced to work with one another in the first place as ten Hag’s mission was to rebuild the United culture in his image, while Ronaldo’s was to cement his legacy as one of the greatest players of all time by winning United the Premier League. They were destined to clash from Day 1 (which is exactly what happened).
As for Ronaldo and his relationship with the fans, I’m glad he still holds them in such high regard as many feel the same about him. Speaking for myself, I still love and adore Ronaldo as the footballer that got me invested into the World’s Game. I know a lot of United fans are going to hate on Ronaldo for doing this interview, but I’m not.
It is his right to get his voice out into the public sphere, though I wish it would have come under better circumstances. Him speaking out against the Glazers and the United hierarchy is a step in the right direction (even if it’s rather obvious), but I wish this Ronaldo interview would have come two years from and in better circumstances.
I wish it would have been a reminiscence on his glorious career as he left United winning a trophy or two for the club that made him a global icon.
Seeing as Ronaldo even admitted that he only has two years left, I wish things would have worked out a better and he could have gone out as a Premier League champion. But, that was obviously not to be as the decay of Manchester United since Sir Alex Fergueson left has soured and tarnished any chance at that happy ending.
So, as a United fan that still loves Ronaldo, I just want to say thank you for all of the great times you’ve given Manchester United.
Sure, your second stint at the club has gone sideways, but that doesn’t mean us United fans don’t appreciate you any less.
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