Cristiano Ronaldo: Ten Hag provoked me to leave Tottenham game early

Suraj Radia

• 17 Nov 2022 21:00 GMT
• 3 min read

Cristiano Ronaldo believes he was ‘provoked’ by Erik ten Hag to walk out on Manchester United after being asked to come on as a late substitute.

Ronaldo left Old Trafford during the final minutes of United’s win over Tottenham last month after refusing to come off the bench, prompting the club to suspend him for three days.

Speaking to Piers Morgan, Ronaldo admitted his regret at walking out on his team but insisted he felt aggrieved at being asked to come on for the final three minutes in the game.

PART II: Read the quotes in full from Ronaldo's interview with Piers Morgan

“Piers I will be honest with you, it’s something that I regret, to leave from the stadium,” Ronaldo said. “Probably, or maybe no, I don’t know. It’s difficult to tell you 100%, but let’s say I regret, but in the same way I felt provoked by the coach.

“Not allowed for me, a coach to put me in three minutes in a game. Sorry, I’m not that kind of player. I know what I can give to the teams.”

“Don’t tell me that the top players, the guys who want everything, the key players will play three minutes. Come on, this is unacceptable after what they keep saying before, that they respect me, that they do this, they do that. For me it was not respect, this is why I take this decision I regret.

“I apologised to my teammates for the situation, I did a post, an Instagram, I regret to left from the stadium. I regret my teammates know what I felt, and I said to them apologised, but in the same way, I don’t regret the decisions to not come on…

“The coach didn’t have respect for me. So this is why the relationship, it’s in that way. He keeps saying in the press that he came to me, he likes me, blah, blah, blah but that it’s only for the press. 100%. If you don’t have respect for me, I'm never going to have respect for you."

Ronaldo ‘humiliated' by suspension

Ronaldo also revealed how he felt humiliated by United’s suspension of him, especially when his son asked why he wouldn’t be playing in the next game.

He said: "I think it was a strategy from the club for me to react that way. I was very, very, very, very disappointed for the communication of Manchester United. To be honest, I never had a problem with any club, with any coach. And they suspend me three days, which I felt it was a lot – and the level of sport, clubs, I felt a lot. It was a shame…

“But I remember arriving home and Cristiano saw me and said ‘Daddy, did you not go to the game?’ I said ‘No, because the club punished me with three days’. And he did like *laughs* ‘How are they going to punish you if you are the best player in the world and you're not gonna play?’ I said ‘No I'm not gonna play because I have not behaved’. And he look at me like, ‘My Daddy not behave, what?’

“In one way, I was good because I was like, more relaxed, but in the same way, I feel very disappointed because, okay, I regret, I apologise, I'm not perfect, I made a mistake. But suspend me three games, for that, I think it's too much. And then they make fire for the press, which really disappointed me.”