Piers Morgan believes Erik ten Hag is taking "delight" in "humiliating" Cristiano Ronaldo in a staunch defence of the veteran forward.
Manchester United produced a stunning display to defeat Tottenham 2-0 at Old Trafford on Wednesday evening, yet it was Ronaldo who dominated the headlines. The 37-year-old stormed down the tunnel before half-time after not being used as a substitute.
Ronaldo has been condemned by many pundits for his actions, but Morgan has instead taken aim at Ten Hag for "making him repeatedly warm up" and not playing him. Morgan is one of Ronaldo's biggest admirers and often labels him as the world's best player.
"The way Ten Hag seems to take delight in humiliating Cristiano is pathetic," tweeted broadcaster Morgan on Thursday morning. "Sticking the world’s greatest ever footballer on the bench, making him repeatedly warm up, then not even use him as a sub, is just staggeringly disrespectful to United’s top scorer last season."
Ronaldo's actions evoked memories of when Morgan stormed off the set of Good Morning Britain in March 2021 after being criticised by co-presenter Alex Beresford for his controversial views on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.
Ronaldo has failed to impress under Ten Hag's management since the Dutchman was appointed by United in the summer. The Portugal international has scored just two goals and provided one assist in 12 appearances this season, his worst run of form for a long time.
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Yet United are doing well under Ten Hag. They're fifth in the Premier League after Wednesday evening's convincing win - just one point behind Chelsea in fourth - and need just one point from their final two Europa League games to progress to the next round.
It was a completely different story last season. United limped to a sixth-placed finish in the Premier League and failed to win silverware. But Ronaldo did well, scoring 24 goals in all competitions to win the club's Player of the Year award.
This isn't the first time Morgan has hit out at Ten Hag over his treatment of Ronaldo. After United's 6-3 defeat to Manchester City earlier this month, he tweeted: "Imagine benching Cristiano for United's biggest game of the season, then using five other subs as they're hammered into oblivion, and then claiming you did it 'out of respect' for him?
"Ten Hag is an arrogant deluded twerp and they way he's treating Ronaldo is disgraceful."
Replying to that tweet, United icon Gary Neville said: "I get his [Ten Hag's] point to be honest. Bringing him on at 4-0 and 6-1 would have been an insult. ETH may not have delivered the line correctly and probably would have been best not saying it. (Although I like his honesty)."
Morgan named Ronaldo as the best football he's ever seen in March. In his column for The Sun, Morgan wrote: "Today, I texted him to ask him to sum up in one word why he's the GOAT. "'I need three words,' he replied. 'More than special one, I'm 'The Only One.'
"Then he sent two laughing emojis. I could almost hear him chuckling - and winking - out of my phone. But he's right."
