Ronaldo's training clashes with Ten Hag
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Reading Time: 3min | Wed. 18.02.26. | 21:02
Steve McClaren talked about his time as Ten Hag's assistant
Time flies and it looks like it happened just recently, but actually it‘s been over three years since Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United for the second time, but in a different mood and without any compensation. It was a bitter ending of his second spell with the Red Devils, which started well when he surprisingly signed in 2021 when the manager was still his old teammate Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. By the time he left, United were on their fourth manager and Ronaldo was against everybody. And now, three years later, Steve McClaren reveled how his everyday training sessions with Ronaldo looked like.
Former England and Newcastle manager came to Manchester United to be Erik ten Hag‘s assistant. Before the Dutchman, the Red Devils sacked Solskjaer, appointed Michael Carrick as caretaker manager and then Ralf Ranginck as interim, but nothing worked until Ten Hag came in. He was the permanent manager who came after a lot of success in Ajax. Nobody suspected things would go wrong but soon they did. And Ronaldo clashed with the Dutchman. McClaren revealed his conversations with Ronaldo about Ten Hag's simple tactical instructions in order to guarantee his place in the team.
“There was a lot of battles on that training field. There was a lot of "all I want you to do is this, this, this and this." That was Erik's coaching - Ronnie this is your job. I used to say to Ronnie: "all Ten Hag wants you to do is, you're the first press, make one run, make two runs, and maybe make a third one, if you feel like it. And then, recover back into the middle, in case we win the ball, and then we can play to you. That's all he wants you to do. If you can't do that, you won't be playing. Or if you won't do that, you can't be playing. Okay, or Ten Hag won't pick you. I'm telling you, he won't pick you" revealed McClaren for ‘The Good, The Bad and The Football‘ podcast.
Things soon went to bad from worse and ended with Ronaldo‘s departure and his public attack on Ten Hag. But the Dutchman did what he thought was right.
“Erik was, no, I'm doing that, and Ronaldo got to do it, otherwise he doesn't play. It was a little bit of a fight. Not a fight, but a standoff, and who is going to win? Erik stuck to his guns. I think most managers would accommodate to that. some managers are like that. But he stuck to his guns“ said McClaren.
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - PLAYOFFS
First leg
Tuesday
Galatasaray - Juventus 5-2 (1-2)
/Sara 15, Lang 49, 75, Sanchez 60, Boey 86 - Koopmeiners 16, 32/
Benfica - Real Madrid 0-1 (0-0)
/Vinicius 50/
Dortmund - Atalanta 2-0 (2-0)
/Guirassy 3, Beier 42/
Monaco - PSG 2-3 (2-2)
/Balogun 1, 18 - Doue 29, 67, Hakimi 41/
Wednesday
20.45: (7.75) Qarabag (4.50) Newcastle (1.42)
23.00: (5.00) Bodo (3.90) Inter (1.68)
23.00: (3.85) Club Brugge (3.90) Atl.Madrid (1.95)
23.00: (2.50) Olympiakos (3.35) Leverkusen (2.85)
***odds are subject to change***