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Cristiano Ronaldo burst through the Old Trafford tunnel four minutes before the end of the Red Devils’ 2-0 win over Tottenham after finishing the game as an unused substitute.
The attacker has made headlines in recent months over his dismay at a lack of minutes at the club after trying to break away from the club over the summer.
He was dropped again for the game against Tottenham after returning to the team after a spell on the bench, and was clearly frustrated again when he left his team before the end of the game at Old Trafford.
United boss Erik ten Hag spoke to Amazon Prime Video after the game: ‘I don’t pay attention to that. I’ve seen it, I’m going to work on that tomorrow, not today. We celebrate this victory and we have to recover from that on Saturday.’
Cristiano Ronaldo stormed through the tunnel after being an unused substitute tonight
He was dropped from United’s squad for the 2-0 win over Tottenham at Old Trafford
Ronaldo has regularly made clear his frustrations over a lack of minutes at the club
Ronaldo missed the preseason at United as he stayed home from their foreign tour to deal with personal issues.
He tried to earn a transfer to a Champions League club, but nothing came of it.
He has been criticized for his frustrations over not playing, despite United achieving positive results while off the team.
He scored United’s winner against Everton earlier this month with Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial out of the team, although Rashford returned up front for the win over Tottenham.
Alan Shearer, commenting for Amazon during the match, said: “I understand his frustration, but when you look at the bigger picture, his team put in a really good performance.
“The manager had an important decision and it has been proven that he is right. You’re talking about arguably the best player we’ve ever seen, but it makes it difficult for the manager.
“He will be asked about that, but he should be talking about the players on the pitch tonight.”
Patrice Evra (right) jumped in defense of his former United teammate’s actions
Patrice Evra, who worked as an expert on the game, jumped into Ronaldo’s defense.
He said, ‘Everyone is different. I want to stay with the United performance.
“He might have said to ten Hag: ‘I’m going in’, and we’re going to make a story that just lets him walk. Maybe he said he needed treatment.
“I don’t want to find an excuse, but I want to be focused on United’s story and we need to stop talking about Cristiano every day.”
Thierry Henry adds next to Evra: ‘ten Hag has to do with it. There was a game, a great game for Man United, the story shouldn’t be that Ronaldo is running away.”
Ronaldo was also clearly frustrated when he was substituted early for Newcastle
The forward greeted Theirry Henry before the Spurs game, but did not come on the pitch
Tim Sherwood, who also works as an expert on Prime Video, said: “I find it quite shocking. ten Hag has made all his changes and Ronaldo has just gone through the tunnel. So it is a public display of disagreement against the manager.
‘I don’t think it looks good. I’m pretty angry about it. I love Ronaldo, but I think there are ways to go about it. He [Ten Hag] In the Manchester derby he talked about not putting him on the pitch because he wanted to show him respect, and I feel Ronaldo showed him a lack of disrespect by walking through the tunnel.”
When asked what he would say to Ronaldo, ex-Man United striker and Amazon pundit Dion Dublin said: “I’d probably want to get him by the throat and say ‘what are you doing?’
“It’s out of order. I love Ronaldo. Like Tim, I have a lot of respect for him. I think he should get more minutes and think he can make more of a difference than most. However, the game still continues, your teammates are still playing.
“It basically says, ‘I don’t care.’ In front of me in the locker room it says “I’m free” and “I don’t really care about my teammates”. I know he does and I know he’s passionate about playing for Manchester United, but tonight I think he’s hugely wrong.
“Me and Tim are very old fashioned about this. We have very strong values about togetherness and how we deal with it in the locker room would be very different from how they deal with it now, but I don’t like a lack of respect for your teammates.”