Cristiano Ronaldo warms up before the match between Manchester United and Tottenham in the Premier League this Wednesday in Manchester AFP7 via Europa Press (AFP7 via Europa Press)
Manchester United have decided to punish Cristiano Ronaldo by suspending him from his job, banning him from training and demanding the game he will play against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this Saturday. “The 37-year-old striker will not be included in the squad for this Saturday’s Premier League game against Chelsea,” the club said in a statement on Thursday afternoon. “The rest of the group will train normally for this game.”
The club with the most fans in the United Kingdom have increased the tension of the conflict facing their most famous player after Cristiano left Old Trafford during the locals’ game against Tottenham this Wednesday.
It was the 98th minute of United’s best game in years when Cristiano got up from the bench and left. Seeing that they wouldn’t even use him as a substitute, the Portuguese went into the dressing room at the edge of the field, walked 50 yards along the side stand and ignored the crowd that held out their hands to him. According to The Athletic, he’s been changing at full speed. When his team-mates returned jubilantly after the 2-0 win, he had already gone home.
“Tomorrow I will look into this matter,” said United manager Erik Ten Hag when asked to speak publicly at almost dawn on Wednesday about an act of contempt for the team and him as the highest authority in the clubhouse.
Roy Keane, the legendary United captain, defended his team-mate from 2003 to 2005. “I think United don’t respect Cristiano,” Keane told Sky; “They should have let him go before the transfer market closed. The coach decided he should stay, ok. He said he wanted more options. But Cristiano had offers, he wanted to leave and you’re not staying with him to keep him on the bench. You don’t do that to one of the greatest players of all time.”
Cristiano banned the Transfermarkt portal in March 2021 because he believed his market value was much higher than the €75m quoted by the company’s appraisers. Transfermarkt now value him at €20m. The amount is roughly the price United charged him when the player asked to be sold last summer. No club in Europe with serious Champions League ambitions were willing to pay it and Cristiano was unhappy. At 37, Europe’s top scorer in history has begun a decline that was heralded amid Wednesday night’s events when he left the field mid-game for the second time in three months. mad at his coach Ten Hag for not giving him the trust he thinks he deserves.
“Of course I don’t condone it,” Ten Hag said after the friendly against Rayo at Old Trafford on 31 June, when Cristiano decided to leave the stadium before the final whistle after being substituted at half-time. “This is not acceptable to everyone,” the technician stated. “We are a team and we have to stay until the end.”
The repetition weighed heavily on Cristiano. Caught in a process of regeneration after eight years without winning the league title and in search of a new leader for the institution, following the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, United’s leadership believe there is nothing more counterproductive at the moment than exhibiting the weakness of the club before the footballers.
Ten Hag emphasized the collectivist nature of his company after beating Tottenham. “The 11 regulars and substitutes did a great job as a team,” he said when asked to comment on Cristiano’s attitude. “I said to the guys in the dressing room: I enjoyed watching them play. I think we all saw that there were 11 attacking and 11 defending players.”
The Dutch coach has every reason to brag. United’s 28 shots against Tottenham this season was a Premier League record. Tactical and HR arguments also speak in favor of Ten Hag. Cristiano has fewer and fewer accomplices in the dressing room and his body suffers from the mixer of the pressing model that United are planning to launch. In their free time, the team covers an average of 108 kilometers per game, on the pitch the distance is reduced to 98 kilometers. Statistics also show that with Cristiano participating, the team earns an average of 0.5 points per game. The average increases to 2.25 points if Cristiano stays on the bench.
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