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This was the final weekend before European soccer goes on hold until after the World Cup, and it certainly delivered plenty for us to talk and think about over the coming weeks. There were big wins for Juventus, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool. There were concerns for Man City and Milan to dissect during the break, too, but the biggest event of all was arguably Sunday night’s seismic remarks by Cristiano Ronaldo about his unhappiness at Manchester United.
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It’s Monday, and Gab Marcotti reacts to the biggest moments in the world of football.
Ronaldo’s words give both him and Man United a chance to move on
It’s Monday, and we really should be talking about Alejandro Garnacho’s last-ditch winner for Manchester United against Fulham and how they’ve lost just once since Oct. 2. But of course, it’s all overshadowed by Cristiano Ronaldo’s bombshell interview in which he said he felt disrespected by coach Erik ten Hag and therefore “doesn’t respect” the United manager.
– Ronaldo: I have no respect for Ten Hag, as he doesn’t respect me
It’s easy to get emotional, and to be sure, right now everybody is vilifying Ronaldo. Any player who comes out so explicitly against his manager and the folks running his club is unlikely to ever play for the club again, barring some improbable 180-degree turn. And while Ronaldo isn’t “any player,” the rules apply to him as well. Especially since — let’s face it — he doesn’t come at this from a position of strength.
United and Ronaldo’s agent spent last summer trying to get him a move. Not because he wasn’t productive — lest we forget, he was the third-highest scorer in the Premier League last season — but because the club recognized they were embarking on a long rebuild process and that Ronaldo simply doesn’t fit the style of football Ten Hag played at Ajax. And at age 37, with a year left on his massive contract, it made little sense for him to stick around.
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