Ronaldo's Man Utd career over after Liverpool snub
FT Desk
- 22 Aug 2022 21:50 BST
- 3 min read
Cristiano Ronaldo was benched for Manchester United's 2-1 win over Liverpool on Monday night. The Portuguese great may have played his final game for the club.
Ronaldo may have been lacking match fitness for the opening day 2-1 loss to Brighton, but two weeks later and his absence against Liverpool was simply a big call by Erik ten Hag.
And, as it turns out, the right one.
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Ronaldo got the full 90 minutes in the intervening game - an abject 4-0 defeat at Brentford after which Ronaldo ignored his manager at full-time - but Marcus Rashford led the line against Liverpool with Jadon Sancho and Anthony Elanga in support.
"We know Liverpool are a really good team and you need to press them," Ten Hag explained to the BBC when questioned on his team selection-
"You are to do that out of a block and need energy, that is why we went with Rashford, Sancho, Elanga."
Ten Hag's decisions vindicated
Rashford and Sancho scored, and Elanga was only the width of the post away from joining them on the scoresheet, as United recorded their first league win over Liverpool in four years.
Ronaldo got a five-minute cameo at the end of the game, but it felt more like a farewell than anything.
After seven years across two spells at the club, 142 goals in 333 games and nine major honours including the 2008 Champions League, Ronaldo is no longer in United's best possible XI.
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Atletico Madrid have emerged as frontrunners for Ronaldo's signature, their coach Diego Simeone a fan and Alvaro Morata being offered in part exchange.
United should bite their hand off. Many Red Devils fans would be happy for him to extend his record 140 goals in the Champions League. But at Old Trafford, it's time to move on.
