Ten Hag: I didn’t bring Ronaldo on out of respect for him
FT Desk
- 2 Oct 2022 17:39 BST
- 3 min read
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has incredibly admitted that he didn’t bring Cristiano Ronaldo off the bench during Sunday’s Manchester Derby thrashing “out of respect for his big career”.
United suffered a humiliating 6-3 defeat at the Etihad against their bitter rivals.
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The home team raced into a 4-0 lead by half-time as they blew Ten Hag’s team away in the opening 45 minutes.
Man Utd were slightly better in the second half as City took their feet off the gas and brought on fringe players.
Premier League hat-tricks:
Cristiano Ronaldo - 3
Erling Haaland - 3
Haaland's only played 8 #PL games... 🔥 #MCIMUN pic.twitter.com/BR0wgXdNkK— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) October 2, 2022
But the match still ended up 6-3 as Erling Haaland and Phil Foden both scored hat-tricks.
Ronaldo once again started on the bench for a fifth successive Premier League game.
But despite the game going away from United, Ten Hag surprisingly decided not to call upon the 37-year-old.
Ten Hag has, perhaps unwisely, revealed that he didn’t bring Ronaldo on out of respect for his career.
What did Ten Hag say?
"I didn’t bring him on out of respect for Cristiano and for his big career,” Ten Hag said after the match.
“The other reason was the advantage I had in bringing on Anthony Martial, who needed the minutes but I don't want to point it out like that."
Ten Hag’s comments again suggest special treatment for Ronaldo compared to other Man Utd players, something the club has been criticised for since the Portuguese returned a year ago.
Martial did score two goals as a substitute, including a penalty he won himself.
