Cristiano Ronaldo’s conduct ‘surprised’ Man Utd teammates after picking up an injury before the derby.
Follow Us
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo caused a stir in the Manchester United dressing room by jetting off to Portugal after he was ruled out of facing Manchester City.
His decision to leave the UK is said to have surprised some of his United teammates, who expected Ronaldo to make the short trip with them to the Etihad and offer pearls of wisdom in the dressing room. The Portuguese striker, 37, sustained a hip complaint late last week, according to Ralf Rangnick, and played no part in United’s 4-1 thrashing at the Etihad on Sunday afternoon.
His teammates were said to be very “surprised” when Ronaldo did not show up for the pre-match meetup at The Lowry hotel where the team was camping before the match.
Even though Ronaldo is Manchester United’s top goalscorer this season with 15 goals in all competitions, he hasn’t been in great form as of late, scoring just one goal in the past 10 games.
“Cristiano had some problems with his hip flexor on Friday and since then, he didn’t train,” interim manager Ralf Rangnick said ahead of kick-off.
Roy Keane on the Cristiano Ronaldo controversy:
Former teammate and manager Roy Keane said this on the pre-match telecast, ”There seems to be more to the Ronaldo story when a manager comes out and talks about a hip flexor, I don’t get it. We talk about Ronaldo being a machine and very rarely getting injured but every now and again he comes out with that… a hip flexor?
“It doesn’t add up to me.”
He also said, “The surprise is Ronaldo with the problem with his hip flexor, but United have a bit of pace they still have to come out and play with pride and quality. There seems to be something more with the Ronaldo situation, the manager coming out talking about something about his hip flexor but the man is a machine and is rarely injured, but every now and again he comes out with that about his hip flexor, doesn’t add up to me.”
Due to this injury, he was also ruled out of the 2-2 draw against Aston Villa. He is expected to be back before the match against Tottenham, offering a big boost to the squad’s already depleted front line.
There has been no update on Ronaldo’s fitness in the days since the derby defeat, and it is unclear how much training he will undertake at Carrington this Tuesday or whether he’ll be available for the Tottenham game.
Stay Updated!
Aryan Sharma
(95 Articles Published)