Cristiano Ronaldo’s recent behaviour has been described as ‘selfish’ by Alan Shearer.
The 37-year-old stormed down the tunnel towards the Stretford End before the final whistle as Manchester United beat Tottenham 2-0 on Wednesday night in the Premier League.
No prizes for guessing who took the newspapers’ headlines…
“From the outset, I should say that Cristiano Ronaldo’s recent behaviour is totally unacceptable,” Shearer told The Athletic.
“Showing respect to your team-mates, your manager and your club’s supporters are amongst the fundamentals in football and to refuse to come on as a substitute, as Erik ten Hag has confirmed, and retreat to the dressing room with a game still in progress takes a flamethrower to one of the primary dressing-room codes.
“In a team game, where the basic principle is that you’re all in it together win or lose, such a display of selfishness and petulance is desperately unprofessional and it’s right that Ronaldo should be disciplined by Manchester United because of it.
“His was a terrible example to set and it’s a shame that instead of reflecting on their best performance of the season against Tottenham Hotspur, Ten Hag has been forced to talk about someone who only figured on the periphery.”
However, former Premier League goalscorer Shearer has some sympathy for Ronaldo, admitting that he must be feeling ‘strange’ to be sat on the bench so often. The Portuguese star has been limited to just two starts this season – and he will have to miss out this weekend, even with Anthony Martial on the injury list.
Shearer adds: “I get that his conduct looks bad – and it is bad – but the context in Ronaldo’s case is how unprecedented it must feel to be normal.
“How strange it must seem to be on the same planet as everybody else, when you hold yourself to the highest standards of performance. When you’re a force of nature and your force is blocked.
“It must be difficult to have that on the horizon while knowing to the core of your being that in different circumstances you would still be banging in goals. I don’t condone the way he’s acted, but I do think there’s some mitigation.
“There’s a disconnect between knowing you can’t quite do everything you used to, that you might have lost half a yard of pace, and actually accepting it, because you still have the same hunger and attitude and mentality. It must be harder when you’re a phenomenon like Ronaldo.
“Nobody wants to see him behave like that, stropping down the touchline, and that’s where we have to flip this back to the start. His reaction was really poor and not for the first time. He should be bigger than that.”
Reports suggest that Ronaldo refused to come on after getting instructions from Erik ten Hag – but he has since apologised with a post via Instagram.
As a result, Ronaldo has been axed from today’s squad to face Chelsea.
Stretty News verdict – Ronaldo’s conduct is appalling
Ronaldo’s conduct is something you expect from a youth player. Something who still has a lot to learn, but he carries himself like a man child, so what should we expect?
It doesn’t take away the fact he is the one of the best players to ever play the game – arguably the very best, though many people will argue that is Lionel Messi.
