Rio Ferdinand has insisted that Cristiano Ronaldo will be "absolutely fuming" at Erik ten Hag for continuing to leave him out of Manchester United 's starting XI.
Ronaldo has been left on the bench for both of United's last two games against Liverpool and Southampton. Ten Hag's men picked up wins in both of those outings, with Marcus Rashford starting in the central role up front.
The 37-year-old's exclusion came as somewhat of a surprise when it was first announced for the visit of Liverpool to Old Trafford. But it quickly became seen as an inspired decision by Ten Hag after United picked up their first win since the Dutchman took charge.
But despite that praise for Ten Hag's ruthlessness, Ferdinand has insisted that Ronaldo will be fuming with his manager. The United icon pointed to the number of goals he scored last season as a reason why he can feel legitimately aggrieved by Ten Hag's decision-making.
“Whether he stays or not none of us know, but knowing Cristiano, I know for a fact that he will be absolutely fuming right now. Forget who’s starting in front of him, it’s that he’s not starting," Ferdinand told the Vibe with Five YouTube channel.
"You don’t get to do what he’s done in his career over this amazing amount of time at the levels he’s been playing and be someone who’s going to accept not starting and being a sub for a team that’s not in the Champions League.
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"People can't sit there and say he should be fine, he'll be alright. He should be a team player. For some people that's cool. But Cristiano Ronaldo's not built like that, you can't expect him to change at 37.
“ Cristiano Ronaldo, no matter what anyone says about running, pressing etc, he’ll be sitting there going ‘I scored 24 goals last year, talk to me, how many times did anybody else get near that in this team?' He’ll know the stats because he looks at everything and he'll be going ‘I got this team more points than anyone else last year with the goals I scored'. He will defo not be happy."
Ten Hag has refused to baulk in the face of the pressure to start Ronaldo, consistently insisting that leaving him on the bench is the right move for the team as a whole. So far, results would appear to be proving the Dutchman right.
"As a manager, you have to take clear decisions. The team is always the most important and you make the decision about what is to the advantage of the team. No matter who it is," Ten Hag said ahead of the win over Southampton.
"In your communication, you have to be clear and honest. I think we have a squad that is quite competitive, so there are always difficult decisions. As you say, we had a really good performance on Monday, then you stick to it."
