Ronaldo should be shameful of his contempt for Man Utd- The Times

Betrayal lies at the heart of Cristiano Ronaldo’s sadly toxic relationship with Manchester United. Ronaldo accuses his club of betrayal but the real betrayal is committed by him alone. His contempt for the club and lack of professionalism is shameful.

In his hour-and-a-half-long TalkTV interview with Piers Morgan — arguably Ronaldo’s most notable 90 minutes of the season — a player who should be cherished as a United great actually ends up trashing his own reputation by attempting to denigrate those at the club, in particular, the manager Erik ten Hag. So thanks for the memories, but not the melodramas, the tantrums, the betrayal. Now go. From Viva to Leaver Ronaldo.

He has certainly betrayed Ten Hag. He returned late for pre-season and unfit (by his high standards), left the Spurs game early, was dropped by Ten Hag for the subsequent Chelsea match, but then reinstated, even briefly as captain. Ten Hag has handled the situation respectfully, yet there is Ronaldo telling Morgan: “I don’t have respect for him because he doesn’t show respect for me.” It’s nonsense. Ronaldo is 37, doesn’t suit Ten Hag’s pressing style and, as some of us are tired of saying, he really should have left in the summer.

So listen to a manager Ronaldo does respect. “The minute a Manchester United player thought he was bigger than the manager, he had to go.” So said Alex Ferguson in 2013. In Ten Hag, United have appointed a manager with the ideas, energy and authority to drive the team forward. Ten Hag is the future of United, Ronaldo the past.

On what is surely his way out of the building, slamming doors behind him, losing friends on the way, Ronaldo does make pertinent points about United, especially the failure to improve facilities at Carrington and Old Trafford. He does tell Morgan that “the progress was zero”, but does he question the Glazers, the real reason behind the lack of investment in such areas? Any constructive element to Ronaldo’s views will be lost amid the excess of self-regard and absence of self-awareness.

Poignantly, though, Ronaldo argues that the club could have shown more “empathy” when he faced emotionally draining events in his family life, and if so, that’s so wrong of them. But for all their commercial drive, United are not a “cold” club. So many staff have been there so long, and care so much for the players, that it is impossible to believe that they would not have wrapped Ronaldo, a member of their football family, in a consoling, supportive embrace.

So it is not United guilty of betrayal of a player they helped nurture as a youngster on his arrival from Sporting Lisbon, trained up, rewarded handsomely, and then welcomed back, and gave him a stage and home again. They gave him love and riches, and he responds with this betrayal, not simply in the interview with Morgan but in his performances.

The numbers don’t lie. In 520 minutes in the Premier League this season, Ronaldo has contributed one goal, the winner at Goodison Park, and no assists. In 531 minutes in the Europa League, he has scored home and away against Sheriff Tiraspol (one a penalty), and provided an assist against Omonia Nicosia and against Real Sociedad. He’s not delivering.

To many, Ronaldo’s still a talisman for Portugal, yet managed only two goals and two assists in 388 minutes of Nations League A action in 2022. He is patently not the force he was, and there is no shame in that at his age.

His stamina and athleticism are not what they were. It may pain him that his arch-rival, Lionel Messi, is still producing, 12 goals in his past 12 games for Paris Saint-Germain and Argentina, at the age of 35. Maybe the image of Messi progressing in the Champions League, and leading a confident, talented Argentina side that are second favourites going into the World Cup, adds to Ronaldo’s discontent. Both rank among the greats of the game but Messi will always be more the team player than Ronaldo.

Ronaldo has betrayed his teammates. During a difficult period, when they needed someone to light the way, he throws shade. What sort of role model or senior player lets his team down by not coming off the bench? What sort of person steals the limelight from his team-mates? United players should be celebrating an important win at Fulham, combining those beloved club traits of flying winger and late winner. 

United should be basking in their team spirit and unity, their bond with the fans, and joy at the emergence of the teenager Alejandro Garnacho, and yet the talk is about Ronaldo’s interview.

It has to be Ronaldo’s farewell interview as a United player, timed as their season pauses for the World Cup so he doesn’t have to face the fans again because they will be — already are — increasingly dismissive of him. They want him gone.

They enjoyed his first season back, an undoubted success, but could see that the Ten Hag era needed a new approach, younger, fresher. Ronaldo tells Morgan that he plays for the United fans yet he risks betraying them. By not playing when asked, by not supporting the manager, by seeming to make everything all about him.

Ultimately, Ronaldo has also betrayed his legacy, that relentless harvesting of trophies at United, the three titles, two League Cups, one FA Cup and, most memorably, Champions League glory in Moscow in 2008.

Only 12 players have scored more goals in United’s glittering history. And what goals — 145 goals in 346 appearances — and what variety. The flicked finish with his heel through a crowded area against Aston Villa, the right-foot volley against Fulham, and the left-footed strike on a muddy pitch against Portsmouth. What free kicks, too.

That ferocious free kick from straight-on against Porto, from wide on the right against Arsenal, from wide on the left against Blackburn Rovers, and one blurred bullet against Portsmouth, whose keeper David James just shrugged his shoulders, smiled ruefully as if to say: “What could I possibly do about that?”

At his peak, Ronaldo was unplayable. Now he tarnishes his reputation. He’s even betrayed former team-mates such as Wayne Rooney, and let’s not forget that Rooney instantly forgave Ronaldo for his part in the Englishman’s 2006 World Cup dismissal.

That wink itself was a betrayal. Rooney has made some valid observations about Ronaldo in recent months. “I don’t know why he criticises me so badly,” Ronaldo tells Morgan, “probably because he finished his career and I’m still playing at high level.”

He’s entitled to a dig back but it was tacky to then personalise it by saying, “I’m not going to say that I’m looking better than him — which is true.” Maybe so, but what have looks to do with outlooks? Maybe one day Ronaldo will understand why Rooney is still revered at United.

The whole sorry saga is almost Shakespearean, the personal flaws of a king leading to his own dethroning. Leaving aside whether or not such a high-profile employee is in breach of his contract over the interview, Ronaldo has to go. His betrayal is too big.