Former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has hit out at Cristiano Ronaldo and claimed the club icon “let the team down” by failing to train properly.
Ronaldo was in his second spell at United when Ten Hag took charge in the summer of 2022 but left in controversial circumstances a few months later.
The Dutch boss was later sacked by United in October 2024 after a miserable run of results, following an infamous clash with the Portugal legend earlier in his time at Old Trafford.
Now, Ten Hag has alleged the five-time Ballon d’Or winner pulled out of training sessions and managed just two of the three laps he demanded during a run at Carrington, the day after a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Brentford at the start of the 2022/23 season, before Ronaldo had his contract ripped up by United just weeks later.
Ten Hag, 56, currently technical director at Eredivisie club FC Twente, criticised Ronaldo’s training standards, recalling how he confronted the veteran forward over what he considered a lack of effort.
Speaking to The Athletic, he said: “I confronted him with this. Many times I say, ‘Ronnie, everyone wants to work for you to bring you in the right position, but if you can’t bring yourself in the box, you can’t score’.
“He was not capable to do this. It’s the wrong idea to put this to me that I expected him to do the pressing, that he’s exhausted. But he couldn’t. He ran neither in possession nor out of possession.
“The reason was because he didn’t prepare himself. Every top team has to embrace the top player, but the top player has to work for the team.
“He was telling the players, ‘Save your legs at the training’. I understand it when you are top fit; you have sessions, you can save the legs. But first you have to train yourself to get into the right fitness levels.”
Ten Hag revealed: “He let the team down, and he let me down, because we planned with him. I flew out to Portugal to speak with him about what I was aiming for before I came to United.
“Obviously, he’s one of the best in football history. I respected him a lot. But at that time, as a manager, I had to make a rational decision.”