Why Ronaldo is not playing for Man United vs Chelsea and what comes next for wantaway star

Alex Young @alexwsyoung21 October 2022

Cristiano Ronaldo is enduring a season to forget at Manchester United, and is now facing an acrimonious exit a little over a year after a stunning homecoming.

A summer-long attempt to leave the club, following their failure to qualify for the Champions League, saw new manager Erik ten Hag take a dim view of his supposed star player’s commitment and saw him prefer other options in attack.

On Wednesday, Ronaldo performed another show of disrespect towards his manager, and Ten Hag made sure to lay down the law.

Here’s the latest on Ronaldo’s situation at Manchester United...

Why is Ronaldo absent from Chelsea match?

For the second time this season, Ronaldo, on Wednesday, walked down the tunnel before full-time - a classic sign of disrespect toward both coach and team-mates. Against Spurs, however, he went one further by refusing to come on and then, reportedly, leaving Old Trafford entirely before full-time.

The reasons behind Ronaldo’s latest act of defiance was unclear, but he could not have picked a worse time for it as United produced arguably their best performance of the season by beating Antonio Conte’s side 2-0. Ten Hag after the game that the matter will be dealt with the following day, and news soon came that Ronaldo had been stood down for the weekend.

Ronaldo is now training alone, away from those preparing for the trip to Chelsea, and will be until next week. Ten Hag did not mince his words when talking to reporters on Friday: "I am the manager. I am responsible for the top sport culture here and I have to set standards and values and I have to control them.

"We are in a team, so we have standards, we have values and I have to control that. After (the first time) Rayo Vallecano, I told (you) it was unacceptable but he wasn't the only one. That is for everyone.

"When it's the second time, that will have consequences. That is what we did. We miss him tomorrow. That is a miss for us. For the squad it's a miss. But I think it's important for the attitude and mentality from the group. Now we have to focus on Chelsea and that is the most important."

REUTERS

What next for Ronaldo?

Ronaldo has issued his own statement on both the incident and his punishment, though did not go as far as apologising to his manager or the rest of the squad but did vow to earn his place back in the squad.

Ronaldo said: "As I've always done throughout my career, I try to live and play respectfully towards my colleagues, my adversaries and my coaches. That hasn't changed. I haven't changed ... Unfortunately that's not always possible and sometimes the heat of the moment gets the best of us."

"Right now, I just feel that I have to keep working hard in Carrington, support my teammates and be ready for everything in any given game. Giving in to the pressure is not an option. It never was. This is Manchester United, and united we must stand. Soon we'll be together again."

Ten Hag, meanwhile, expects Ronaldo to reflect on his actions, he told reporters: “I sent a warning at the start of the season. Then the next time there has to be consequences otherwise when you are living together, when you are playing together, and football is a team sport, so you have to fulfil certain standards. And I have to control it.”

United are understood to still consider Ronaldo a key member of the first-team squad, but this latest indiscretion will only further fuel speculation over an exit, which Ronaldo was so desperate for in the summer.

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