Erik ten Hag has taken aim at Cristiano Ronaldo and claimed the star “let down” his Manchester United side.
The Dutch manager took over at Old Trafford in 2022 while Ronaldo was in the middle of his brief homecoming in the North West.
But the pair would have a massive falling out that led to the Portuguese legend having his contract terminated less than halfway through the 2022/23 season.
And now Ten Hag – who was sacked by United in 2024 – has opened up on some of the pair’s issues, and claimed that the former Real Madrid star did not put in the work required of him by his manager and team-mates.
Ten Hag told The Athletic: “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 and keep the players I admire in.”
Though the gravity of having a player like Ronaldo was not lost on Ten Hag, he reckons the importance of giving your all in training might have been lost on the 41-year-old.
He claims the star “pulled out of training sessions” and did not train hard enough when he was present, including the decision to snub one of three required laps when Ten Hag made his side run a mile for each of the eight miles they had been outrun in their 4-0 loss to Brentford the day before.
Ten Hag explained: “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.”
Things got off to a rough start when the manager slammed Ronaldo for leaving a pre-season friendly with Rayo Vallecano while the match was still going on.
He then repeated the trick in the Premier League against Spurs after refusing to come on as a substitute.
Ten Hag added: “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.”
Ronaldo hosted a bombshell interview with Piers Morgan just months into the season in which he fired back at his boss and claimed he could not respect him.
He made his Al Nassr move weeks later, but his tense relationship with his managers struck again when he stormed out of Portugal’s camp during the last international break amid a feud with Jorge Jesus.