Cristiano Ronaldo has been voted the best player in the world five times, but those days are long gone. His name still fascinates, but now viewers come to witness his fall. With an interview in England he now damages his own monument.
Cristiano Ronaldo unpacked the megaphone at his inevitable end at Manchester United. In an interview with Piers Morgan, the struggling superstar managed to completely insult his club. He accused the current coach Erik ten Hag of "treason" and also attacked ex-coach Ralf Rangnick. "I had never heard of him," admitted the 37-year-old Portuguese in the interview that is likely to cost him his Red Devils contract. With Portugal he is now going to his last World Cup. What happens after that doesn't really matter to him at the moment. It's about controlling anger and reducing frustration before his last appearance on the big stage of world football - the World Cup in Qatar.
Ronaldo may no longer play a role on the pitch for United and therefore in club football at the moment, but off the field he always manages to grab the headlines for himself. Ronaldo has lost none of his fascination. However, if in the past the focus was on his sporting achievements, now this strange mixture of pity and enthusiasm about the case prevails. The Portuguese, once one of the best players in the world, has not only lost his place under the new Red Devils coach, but obviously also his patience.
After just ten starts in the first phase of the season, after only a meager three goals in a total of 16 games, Ronaldo has had enough. He already had that in the summer, wanted to leave United again after just one year. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't open a new club. Because not only his game, but also his salary expectations are outdated. The Portuguese received cancellations after cancellations.
The German clubs Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund only had words of praise for his past, but no use for him in the future. During all this time, United boss ten Hag said he still relies on Ronaldo. A lie, a devious game? "They wanted to get rid of me," said Ronaldo in the conversation previously published as an interview fragment.
And so Ronaldo frustrated himself through the first few months of the season. Only in the Europa League did he have something like a regular place, in the league his premature departure in the game against Tottenham Hotspur even caused a pause for thought. He had to wait forever for his 700th goal at club level, his shares fell even further and in the interview he now blames all of this on his new ten Hag. "Yes, I felt betrayed and I had the feeling that some people here didn't want me. Not just this year, but also last year," said Ronaldo, who only returned to the island from Juventus in 2021, at Piers Morgan: "I don't respect him because he doesn't respect me."
Bad only for Ronaldo: The points speak for coach ten Hag. In his first few months at Old Trafford, the Dutchman managed to stabilize the world club, which had been in a deep crisis for years, and to bring it back close to the national top. At the beginning of the World Cup break, United are fifth in the table with 26 points, within striking distance of the Champions League positions currently held by Tottenham and Newcastle United, among others. That has rarely been the case at Manchester United in recent years. Whether with Ronaldo last season or without him in the years since the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson left as Red Devils manager.
Last season, the German Ralf Rangnick was briefly in control of United, but although Ronaldo was still involved as a regular player and contributed a total of 24 competitive goals, United endured a miserable season, only qualifying for the Europa League. Also because there was no real coach on the sidelines, the Portuguese suspected. "If you're not even a coach, how can you be the boss of Manchester United? I had never heard of him," Ronaldo said of Rangnick, the current national coach Austria, who revolutionized football as a coach in Germany and about whose influence on coach stars like Jürgen Klopp there were large-scale portraits when he arrived in England.
In any case, Ronaldo felt like he was in the Stone Age, he explained. Nothing has changed at United since Ferguson left. "Progress was zero," he said. "There was no development at all. Nothing has changed. Ferguson knows better than anyone that the club is not on the path it should be on. He knows it, everyone know it. And the people who don't want to see it don't want to see it because they're blind."
But Ronaldo no longer wants to be blind. He wants to see and he wants to be seen even more. The last chance on the big stage is now at the upcoming World Cup in Qatar. His performances mean he's not without controversy there either, but he eventually found his place in coach Fernando Santos' squad. It is still unclear whether Ronaldo will lead his Portuguese team into the first game against Ghana on November 24th. The other opponents in Group H are Uruguay and South Korea. After the settlement with Manchester United, national coach Santos now at least knows what he could face if he fails without Ronaldo: the wrath of the superstar.
One thing is clear: With his statements he has put himself on the sidelines at United. He no longer has a future at Old Trafford. His contract expires next summer, leaving this winter is more than likely. The only question is who wants to afford the diva. A large club will hardly be among them.
