After scoring 450 goals in 438 games in Spain across nine extremely fruitful seasons in Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo relocated to Turin to play for Juventus, where he scored another 101 goals in 138 games.
Meanwhile, Manchester United’s current under-fire boss, Erik Ten Hag, became Ajax’s first team coach in 2017 and won the Eredivisie in 2019, 2021, and 2022. During this time, his Ajax team defeated Real Madrid, who had been defending champions at the time, 4-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu to get to the semi-finals of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League for the club’s first time since 1997.
In the summer of 2021, Ronaldo made the switch back to the club where his success had begun, Manchester United, in an emotional return to English football.
In December 2022, Ronaldo and Ten Hag clashed, leading Ronaldo to do a rancorous interview with Piers Morgan. This interview led to Manchester United terminating the superstar’s contract.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Return to Manchester United
When Ronaldo returned in 2021, Manchester United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjær was managing the club. Under his guidance, the club had finished 2nd in the league and runners-up in the Europa League the previous season. Due to recurring poor performances, he was later sacked in November and temporarily replaced with Michael Carrick before Ralf Rangnick was appointed to see the season out.
Cristiano Ronaldo marked his return to English football officially with a September 11 second debut against Newcastle. He scored a brace in the 4-1 win. He went on to score 18 league goals that season, his least amount of goals in a league season since he scored the same number of goals in the 2008–09 season, which was incidentally his last season in Manchester United the first time he was there.
He finished the league as the third-highest goal scorer, but Manchester United finished outside the top four in 6th position.
Erik Ten Hag Clashes With Ronaldo
Erik Ten Hag’s first two Premier League games with Manchester United after winning the Eredivisie with Ajax ended in defeats, sending United to the bottom of the table. It was the first time the club had lost their opening two Premier League games since the 1992-93 season.
The Dutchman only played Ronaldo 10 times in the Premier League in which he scored just once with United struggling before the World Cup break. In a match against Tottenham, Ronaldo visibly refused to be substituted onto the pitch late in the game. This made Ten Hag drop him while making him train separately from the first team. Not long after, Ronaldo did an interview with Piers Morgan.
In the interview on the club, he said:
“I don’t know what’s going on but since Sir Alex Ferguson left I saw no evolution in the club, the progress was zero.”
On Ten Hag, he said:
“He keep saying in the press that he come to me, he like me blah, blah, blah, but that is only for the press, 100 per cent. If you don’t have respect for me, I’m never going to have respect for you.”
Eight days after the interview aired, his contract was terminated and he signed with Saudi Pro League club, Al-Nassr.
Manchester United Since Ronaldo’s Departure
After leaving Manchester United in January 2023, Manchester United went on to win the EFL Cup and finish 3rd in the league behind Manchester City and Arsenal. Marcus Rashford finished as the club’s highest goal scorer in the league with 17 goals and 30 goals in all competitions.
Ronaldo has also enjoyed a new lease of life in Saudi Arabia, scoring 56 goals in 63 games in all competitions.
The 2023-24 season began terribly for the Manchester United boss. In the six games of the Champions League, the club won one, drew one, and lost four, including both games against Bayern Munich. They were knocked out of the EFL Cup by Newcastle in the fourth round 3-0 and have lost 12 games in the Premier League, including a 4-3 cracker against Chelsea, where they had led 3-2 until the 98th minute before a Cole Palmer brace stole the Stamford Bridge win from them.
The club currently sits in 6th position with 54 points in 34 games. As a result, Wesley Sneijder took to “Veronica Offside,” a Dutch TV show, to discuss the club and his fellow Dutchman. He attributed the club’s performance dip to Ten Hag losing control of the players due to how he treated Cristiano Ronaldo.
“He already made a mistake by competing with Ronaldo. He lost everyone’s respect there. He thought it would work the other way around, but of course not. Those guys in the dressing room thought, ‘Is this man crazy?'”
Speculation is rife that the Manchester United boss will be fired at the end of the season. A few potential replacements have been rumored by the media and fans including Brighton’s Roberto De Zerbi, former Chelsea Champions League winning coach, Thomas Tuchel, and even the current England manager, Gareth Southgate.
Also Read: Chelsea vs Tottenham: 8 Years On From The Battle of the Bridge
About the Author
Ebenezer has been an avid writer for over a decade and a half. During that period, he has gained experience in various fields, such as editing, graphics design, transcribing, sales, data analysis, and football management.
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