Ronaldo gets his REVENGE on Ten Hag with 7-0 Man Utd mauling

Carlo Garganese

• 6 Mar 2023 14:00 GMT
• 4 min read

Ahead of Man Utd’s trip to Anfield on Sunday, Erik ten Hag revealed that he had “slept well” after dropping Cristiano Ronaldo for the reverse fixture earlier in the season.

Man Utd had hosted Liverpool in the third game of the season on the back of Ten Hag losing his first two matches against Brighton and Brentford.

Ten Hag secured his first win as United boss in that game after dropping Ronaldo from the starting line-up, a decision which marked the beginning of the end of the forward’s career at Old Trafford.

READ MORE: What is Man Utd’s biggest loss of all time?

Ten Hag added that there had been no discipline at the club before Ronaldo departed.

The Portuguese legend never recovered from being dropped against Liverpool. Numerous incidents of indiscipline and unprofessionalism from Ronaldo followed, with the final straw arriving just ahead of the World Cup.

Ronaldo caused huge controversy after sitting down for a no-holds barred interview with TalkTV journalist Piers Morgan.

During the interview, Ronaldo slammed a number of key figures at Man Utd, including current manager Erik ten Hag, past manager Ralf Rangnick, owners The Glazers and club legends Wayne Rooney and Gary Neville.

He accused Ten Hag and others of betraying him and trying to force him out of the club and was heavily critical of the way Man Utd was being run.

Ronaldo’s contract was subsequently rescinded by Man Utd, with the 38-year-old eventually joining Saudi side Al-Nassr in January.

Since then, the overwhelming consensus has been that Man Utd have been much better for Ronaldo’s departure and that Ten Hag had been proven right for his actions.

Until the Liverpool return, United had been in fantastic form after Ronaldo’s exit, losing just one Premier League game. They won their first trophy in six years - beating Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final - and were still in the FA Cup and Europa League. They even eliminated Barcelona in the latter.

Ten Hag had appeared to be rebuilding Man Utd back into the great team we have not seen since Sir Alex Ferguson retired a decade ago.

Liverpool 7-0 Man Utd

But then, on Sunday, Man Utd were thrashed 7-0 by rivals Liverpool. It was the joint-biggest defeat in the club’s history and their heaviest ever Premier League loss.

It’s possible this was just a one-off freak result for a team that has been flying in 2023. Perhaps the team was tired after a very congested calendar. And perhaps it was just the supernatural effect of playing at Anfield, the toughest place to go in football.

But the severity of the scoreline and the nature of the performance suggests that Man Utd are a long way away from being a truly top team. There are certainly a number of individuals who are not at the level required.

And as for Ronaldo, this was some belated revenge for him. All the talk that he was the sole reason why Man Utd had been struggling had now been shown to be overblown.

Of course, Morgan himself had a field day. He tweeted about karma, wished Ten Hag a good night’s sleep and even half-seriously called for the Dutchman to be sacked.

Ronaldo stayed silent but one can imagine he drew at least a faint smile at seeing Ten Hag get humiliated.