“I would have played Cristiano Ronaldo”- Liverpool legend furious over the Portuguese’s treatment by Manchester United manager


“I would have played Cristiano Ronaldo”- Liverpool legend furious over the Portuguese’s treatment by Manchester United manager

Graeme Souness insists that Cristiano Ronaldo would start for Manchester United if he were the manager. He has pushed Erik ten Hag to start Ronaldo rather than Marcus Rashford, who has “stood motionless” recently. Ronaldo did not even get a substitute appearance as he sat on the bench and watched as United was hammered 6-3 by fierce rivals City, with rumours about his future still dominating the headlines.

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The Portuguese forward requested to leave United this summer but decided to stay due to a lack of serious interest, causing a toxic atmosphere in the locker room while Ten Hag has failed to provide him regular first-team action.

However, Souness believes Ronaldo is the solution to United’s current problems and wants to see him start instead of Rashford because the England star hasn’t had much of an impact. He reiterated on talkSport that Ten Hag could not wait for Rashford to start contributing and criticized him for “standing still” in his remarks.

“Time is not your friend in football, you have to be winning games today,” he said. “It’s not about waiting for Marcus Rashford to become the player that most people believe he can be. It’s not about giving Martial, because of his age, a place in the team over Ronaldo. It’s about today in football. Yeah, I would have [played] Ronaldo.”

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“Marcus Rashford, when he first burst into the team as a young player you thought “he’s the real deal”. He’s stood still. If you were to ask me today, next week, big game – for all his shortcomings, Ronaldo, I would have played him in front of Rashford.”

Read More: Here’s why the Manchester United manager didn’t bring in Cristiano Ronaldo in the clash against Manchester City

Manchester United legend blasts Erik ten Hag for ‘disrespecting’ Cristiano Ronaldo

Ten Hag inexplicably said that the reason Ronaldo was not introduced versus City was “out of respect for his tremendous career.” But United great Roy Keane asserted on Sky Sports that the action simply showed Ronaldo the opposite: “I think Man United are showing disrespect to Ronaldo. I think he should have been let go before the [closing] of the window.”

“Okay, you’re the manager, you need options but you don’t hold onto Ronaldo to sit on the bench. He’s one of the greatest players ever. He’s played him in one or two European games. It’s just going to get uglier as the season goes on. If he’s sitting on the bench for United, week in, week out it’s just going to get uglier. I think United have shown nothing but disrespect to Ronaldo.”

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Also Read: “Manchester United forced him to stay”- Red Devils legend puts aside rumors stating Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t have ‘options’ during the 2022 summer transfer window

Also Read: Former player Graeme Souness backs Harry Maguire on being the only target for Manchester United’s poor performance