Cristiano Ronaldo said that he walked out of Manchester United‘s 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday because he was “in the heat of the moment.”
The Portugal international answered back on Thursday after not being in United’s team to play Chelsea on Saturday and having to train with the second team instead.
Ronaldo did not make specific reference to his actions but appeared remorseful in his public statement.
Ronaldo left the stadium before the end of a United game on Wednesday. He did the same thing before the end of a preseason match against Rayo Vallecano.
Manchester United said Cristiano Ronaldo will not play. He walked down the tunnel before the game was over and left the stadium early.
Ronaldo says he doesn’t plan to give up on his team. He wants to work hard to get back into the first team.
Ronaldo’s message is as close as he can get to an apology without actually saying he’s sorry. He did say that he let his anger get the best of him, though.
Cristiano Ronaldo messed it up altogether
Manager Erik ten Hag is not messing about, pledging to ‘deal with the situation, and he did so, with the declaration Ronaldo will not be part of the squad this upcoming weekend.
Ronaldo should have sent this message in the morning, before he was effectively banned from playing with the first team, not after.
But this is better than nothing and shows that Ronaldo wants to start making up for what he did.
The Athletic says that he will train alone until next week. But Erik ten Hag still thinks of him as a member of the first team.
Ronaldo will be thinking about the World Cup and will want to stay in shape so he can play in it. It is unlikely that he will stay at Manchester United past January.
Even his old teammate, Rio Ferdinand, has said that it would be best for everyone if United let him out of his contract.
Ronaldo has scored only two goals this season and will be a free agent next June. United does have the option to extend his deal by a further year, which currently looks incredibly unlikely.
What did Jermaine Pennant say?
Jermaine Pennant said that Cristiano Ronaldo’s statement about his latest temper tantrum at Manchester United was “absolutely pathetic” and was just a PR stunt.
The international player from Portugal was heavily criticized by everyone except his true fans, who continued to defend him.
Jermaine Pennant comments on Ronaldo’s statement: “Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. At the end of the day, be a man and own up to your mistakes. Say ‘hands up, I messed up here and I sincerely apologise to firstly my teammates, my manager, the club and the fans’. That statement there, he’s not taking accountability there and there’s no apology. It’s about him and how ‘I’ve done this and done that’. This is a load of nonsense. It’s just PR for him and not what he should be doing.
It’s pathetic. We know how good he’s been, he’s a great a one of the best to ever do it, but we are talking about the here and now. He didn’t set an example for the younger players in that Manchester United squad. His attitude was all wrong, it was all about himself and he forget about his teammates that put in that effort to get that result against Tottenham. He’s been petulant and disrespected his teammates who have worked hard. They’ve put in the performance of the season and he’s just left.”