Ronaldo sends Man Utd message with 48th goal since being booted out by Ten Hag
Robin Bairner
- 25 Nov 2023 02:43 CST
- 3 min read
Cristiano Ronaldo has contributed 61 goals, scoring 48 and assisting 13, since leaving Manchester United a year ago, with the Al-Nassr striker responding in incredible fashion to Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag.
Ronaldo was infamously benched by the Dutchman, who felt that the Portugal superstar did not fit into the style of play that he wanted to implement at Old Trafford.
Man Utd, meanwhile, are suffering in the absence of the five-time Ballon d’Or winner. They do not have a single player on more than three Premier League goals this season, with midfielder Scott McTominay leading the way for them in the top flight along with Bruno Fernandes, underlining how much they are struggling.
No other Man Utd players have more than a single goal.
Marcus Rashford is sitting on zero Premier League strikes for the season, while Rasmus Hojlund, who will have to bear the tag of being Ronaldo’s long-term successor at Man Utd having been drafted in for €75 million from Atalanta in the summer, is also yet to get off the mark, even if his record in Europe has been impressive.
Ronaldo, that is ridiculous! 🤯🤯🤯pic.twitter.com/ZKe5Lqf7eu
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) November 24, 2023
Ronaldo, meanwhile, cannot stop scoring for Al-Nassr. The 38-year-old netted his 48th goal of 2023 against Al-Akhdoud in a Saudi Pro League encounter on Friday night, sealing the victory for his team with an outrageous lob from 45 yards out.
His message could not have been clearer: I’m still good enough.
No one is arguing that he would have those type of numbers in the Premier League – a substantially higher level – but it is hard to imagine that a player of such pedigree would not have had some type of positive impact on Ten Hag’s struggling side.
Man Utd missing Ronaldo
As Manchester United gear up for a trip to Everton on Sunday, they can reflect on last season’s trip to Goodison Park, a match in which Ronaldo came off the bench to snatch the winning goal in that encounter.
When Ten Hag turns to his substitutes on Merseyside, he will see no one of comparable quality, and crucially he will have no one of that calibre in the starting XI.
The Dutchman is not the type to regret, but part of him must wish things with Ronaldo had turned out differently at Man Utd. Cristiano, after all, has spent the year proving that he’s still got it.
