Ronaldo ruining his World Cup hopes with Man Utd strop
Robin Bairner
- 20 Oct 2022 10:59 BST
- 3 min read
World Cup 2022 might have been Cristiano Ronaldo’s last hurrah at the top level of the international game, but the Portugal legend has put this in jeopardy with his Manchester United strop.
Ronaldo marched down the Old Trafford tunnel with minutes of the Red Devils’ Premier League match against Tottenham remaining. Reports suggest that he bypassed the locker room and left the stadium entirely.
It was the type of strop that can signal the end of a player at a club, and particularly in the 37-year-old’s case given that he was rebuked about a similar action in pre-season when he marched out of a friendly with Rayo Vallecano before the match was over.
Related articles
Ronaldo needs game time
Ronaldo’s action threatens more than just his place at Manchester United, though; it puts in jeopardy his prospects at the World Cup.
Given the situation, it would be easy for Erik ten Hag to freeze Ronaldo to the bench for the next month. Man Utd are playing well, achieving positive results and seem to have a togetherness in the squad that does not require the Portuguese’s presence. Why risk all that for the sake of someone who has been, quite frankly, a bit-part player this season?
Ronaldo, then, faces going to Qatar with Portugal without having played meaningful football for over a month. While this might be a manageable situation in regular circumstances, the alarming fact for CR7 is that by the time the World Cup rolls around, he will have played less than 700 minutes of club football in six months. With just two goals to his credit, he can barely claim to be in any sort of form.
And Portugal’s once untouchable hero already faces criticism at home. Following the September internationals, the Portuguese media claimed that the team needed ‘Less Ronaldo, More Portugal’.
What the striker needs is game time to get his sharpness back. He can fume all he wants but storming prematurely down the tunnel is now way to win over Ten Hag, and if Ronaldo wants to make an impression in the World Cup, he will have to do just that. It appears, though, he has left it too late.
