‘He let the team down, and he let me down’ -Ex-Man.United manager Erik ten Hag attacks Cristiano Ronaldo

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By Linda Ikeji
20 October 2026, 1:49 pm
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Previous Manchester United supervisor Erik 10 Hag has actually struck out at Cristiano Ronaldo and declared the club icon “let the team down” by stopping working to train appropriately.

Ronaldo remained in his 2nd spell at United when Ten Hag took charge in the summer season of 2022 however left in questionable situations a couple of months later on.

The Dutch manager was later on sacked by United in October 2024 after an unpleasant run of outcomes, following a notorious clash with the Portugal legend previously in his time at Old Trafford.

Now, Ten Hag has actually declared the five-time Ballon d’Or winner took out of training sessions and handled simply 2 of the 3 laps he required throughout a perform at Carrington, the day after an embarrassing 4-0 defeat to Brentford at the start of the 2022/23 season, before Ronaldo had his agreement ripped up by United simply weeks later on.

10 Hag, 56, presently technical director at Eredivisie club FC Twente, criticised Ronaldo’s training requirements, remembering how he faced the veteran forward over what he thought about an absence of effort.

Talking to The Athletic, he stated: “I challenged him with this. Lot of times I state, ‘Ronnie, everybody wishes to work for you to bring you in the ideal position, however if you can’t bring yourself in package, you can’t score’.

“He was not capable to do this. It’s the incorrect concept to put this to me that I anticipated him to do the pushing, that he’s tired. He could not. He ran neither in ownership nor out of ownership.

“The factor was since he didn’t prepare himself. Every leading group needs to welcome the leading gamer, however the leading gamer needs to work for the group.

“He was informing the gamers, ‘Save your legs at the training’. I comprehend it when you are leading fit; you have sessions, you can conserve the legs. Initially you have to train yourself to get into the best physical fitness levels.”

10 Hag exposed: “He let the group down, and he let me down, due to the fact that we prepared with him. I flew out to Portugal to talk to him about what I was going for before I pertained 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.”