Ten Hag cracks down on Cristiano Ronaldo behaviour with serious Man Utd punishment, as tensions hit ‘breaking point’

Manchester United and Erik ten Hag have disciplined Cristiano Ronaldo for his disappointing behaviour against Tottenham on Wednesday night.

Ronaldo was left out of the starting lineup for Tottenham’s visit to Old Trafford. Rather than selecting the Portuguese up front, Ten Hag went with Marcus Rashford instead.

The change worked as Bruno Fernandes excelled and linked up well with Rashford and Antony. Rashford had a few good opportunities but was thwarted by Spurs captain Hugo Lloris.

Manchester United got the win as both Fred and Fernandes found the net in the second half.

While it was a promising result and performance, most pundits were left speaking about Ronaldo at the end of the match.

That’s because the veteran striker had left the bench and walked down the tunnel before the final whistle.

It gets worse, too. Laurie Whitwell of The Athletic claims Ronaldo refused to come off the bench before heading into the changing room.

And he didn’t spend long there as he reportedly left Old Trafford before the game had come to an end.

Cristiano Ronaldo to miss next Man Utd game

Ronaldo wasn’t allowed to train with the Man Utd squad on Thursday as a result of his actions. And a club statement has now revealed Ten Hag is cracking down further by leaving him out of the squad for the trip to Chelsea on Saturday.

In a brief statement, the club stated Ronaldo would have nothing to do with the Chelsea fixture. The rest of the squad, though, is fully focused on picking up three points at Stamford Bridge.

In a tweet, Whitwell claims Ten Hag would ideally like the 37-year-old to form part of his squad this weekend.

However, Ronaldo has broken his trust and this has forced the manager to take action. ‘Togetherness’ is one of his priorities at Man Utd and Ronaldo seems to be damaging this, hence the punishment.

Tensions are certainly rising between Ten Hag and Ronaldo. Ten Hag wants to use strikers who fit into his pressing system more, like Rashford and Anthony Martial.

But Ronaldo will feel like his huge achievements in the game should make him a certain starter.

Ten Hag, Ronaldo relationship ‘at breaking point’

As per the Daily Mail, the relationship between the pair is ‘now at breaking point’. It seems a January transfer is the best way to end the scenario.

However, Man Utd will have trouble offloading the five-time Ballon d’Or winner. While he is still a great player with the ability to win matches for his team, he demands huge wages.

Few clubs in Europe would be able to afford his weekly earnings. They are thought to be as high as £480,000 a week right now.

Even the teams that do have the finances to pay Ronaldo don’t seem to be interested in signing him. This includes Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich.

Ronaldo’s behaviour was analysed by those on BBC Match of the Day last night. Gary Lineker began the discussion by saying: “That is unacceptable – it is so poor.”

Former Wales defender Ashley Williams added: “It was a great night for Manchester United and here we are again talking about Cristiano Ronaldo – even though he didn’t play.”

Ronaldo is clearly a legend at Man Utd after all he has done for the club during his two spells there. But he needs to stop acting up and start putting the squad first, otherwise he risks ruining Man Utd’s chances of success.

Meanwhile, one of Ronaldo’s team-mates is reportedly being offered to Europe’s biggest and wealthiest clubs.