They say most players are the first to know when their time is up. Ronaldo, as has been the case so often throughout his extraordinary career, is not most players. His curse is that the mindset that got him to the top of his sport is the same mindset that makes his descent far worse than it needs to be. If anyone expected this explosive but ultimately harrowing interview to include revelations about Erik ten Haag’s shocking treatment of a 37-year-old man in the workplace, then they were sure to be disappointed as they waited for evidence in vain. The manager tasked with setting Manchester United on a new path did not belittle or intimidate Ronaldo. He named him captain in what may now turn out to be his final appearance for the club. Ten Hag’s crime was that, on some occasions, he did not select Ronaldo in his team. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player In an interview with Piers Morgan Uncensored on TalkTV, Cristiano Ronaldo claims Manchester United manager Erik Ten Haag challenged him to leave the pitch against Tottenham. This is the incendiary act that saw him refuse to come off the bench against Tottenham. Ronaldo apologized to his teammates for this. About. “I apologized, but in the same way I don’t regret the decision not to come.” I’m sorry, I’m not sorry. “The coach didn’t respect me,” he adds. Ronaldo was not fully fit at the start of the season. Even he seems to accept that he couldn’t walk sideways back then. He starred in the 4-0 win at Brentford, sat out the next four United won, only to return for the home defeat to Real Sociedad. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player Our pick of Ronaldo’s highs and lows since returning to Manchester United The Tottenham game for which he was benched came two games in a week that Ronaldo had started. Ninety minutes into the narrow win over Omonia Nicosia at Old Trafford. Seventy-two minutes left on the pitch in the stalemate with Newcastle United. It is worth remembering because this is not the story of a player who had frozen out approaching his 38th birthday. His most recent appearance, that dreadful 3-1 defeat by Aston Villa, was his ninth start in 13 games. Ten Haag may have been playing him too much. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player Watch the full interview with Gary Neville following Ronaldo’s comments None of this is to say that Ronaldo isn’t useful to Manchester United. His goal against Everton showed what he can still do. It can contribute. This explains why Ten Haag tried to accommodate him. The player has enjoyed more than he appears to be admitting. “I don’t want to be arrogant and say I’m the same as when I was 20. Of course not,” Ronaldo says. He goes on to argue that the plan is to retire at 40. It’s the closest he comes to an acknowledgment that time is an adversary he cannot defeat. “But I adapt and I’m smart to know my strength, what I’m good at. And I’m still playing at a high level. I’m scoring goals and I’ll keep scoring goals – if my mind is clear and happy and if the people around me, they help me become a successful player.” He is right that it is still possible to build a team around Ronaldo that maximizes his performance. Maybe Manchester United won’t do that. The problem is, as his abilities diminish and the end draws near, there’s less reason than ever for Ten Hag to do so. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player In an interview with Piers Morgan Uncensored on TalkTV, Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed he has turned down a big money offer to play in Saudi Arabia and suggests there are many other clubs interested in him. Ronaldo now sees his time at Real Madrid as a benchmark for how he would like to be treated, but he doesn’t seem to have connected that he was treated that way because he was at his peak. This would not go on indefinitely. He was named as a substitute eight times during his nine seasons in La Liga – as many times as Ten Haag asked him to perform that duty already at Manchester United. During Ronaldo’s last five La Liga seasons as a Real Madrid player, he was not once on the bench. No wonder all this is so foreign to him. “Don’t tell me the top players, the guys who want it all, the key players, are going to play three minutes,” he says of being asked to come on late in the Tottenham defeat. “Come on, this is unacceptable.” Maybe he’s right. United fans have seen Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes accept their place back in the ranks, but Ronaldo is different. Perhaps it’s for the best that Eric Cantona never had to adjust. He was the main man from his first day there to his last. That tends to be the way with the true greats. Pele went to the United States. Johan Cruyff stormed into Feyenoord when he felt Ajax were not bending to his will. Diego Maradona consumed clubs. Lionel Messi’s move to Paris Saint-Germain is not without tensions. There is no real precedent for this in the Premier League, no idea what it might look like when an all-time icon of the game is asked to accept a reduced role before he is ready. Perhaps this inappropriate spectacle is exactly what such a situation looks like. For United, it means more uncomfortable headlines at a time when they might have hoped the worst was behind them. Alejandro Garnazzo’s big moment has been gobbled up. Instead, the spotlight returned to the years of failure that got them into this mess. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player On TalkTV’s Piers Morgan Uncensored, Ronaldo criticized young players Ronaldo has a point when he questions the appointment of Ralf Rangnick, and his claim that United no longer lead in infrastructure is unquestionable even as they begin to correct that failure. Supporters will welcome this perceived criticism of the owners. But as he grumbles, unchallenged by the slanderous Morgan, the sense is that one man can diagnose every problem but one. Perhaps there was another world in which Ronaldo might have embraced his role in changing the culture, becoming a beacon of the best times while trying to restore them. Perhaps Ten Haag could rely on his senior player to set those standards. But that would require more than unbridled ambition and drive, it would require some humility and self-awareness. The message Ronaldo sent to his manager and the rest of the world is clear. Sorry, I’m not that kind of player.
