Ronaldo ‘felt provoked’ by Ten Hag | ‘Happy’ if Arsenal win PL

Cristiano Ronaldo says he felt “provoked” by Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag after he refused to come on last month against Tottenham and left Old Trafford before the full-time whistle.

Ronaldo said he believes Ten Hag “does not respect” him in the way he “deserves”, although he had “regret” for his behaviour against Tottenham in October but feels the punishment he faced was too harsh.

In the final excerpt of his explosive interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV, Ronaldo also revealed he rejected a €350m (£305m) offer to play in Saudi Arabia this summer and claimed he had “many offers” to leave United.

The 37-year-old revealed he plans to carry on his playing career until the age of 40, but does not know which club he will be representing beyond the World Cup in Qatar but hinted at a United exit suggesting it is “probably good to have a new chapter” in his career.

Away from United, Ronaldo said he would be “happy” if Arsenal won the Premier League, with the Gunners currently five points ahead of Manchester City at the top.

In clips previously aired this week from the same interview, Ronaldo disclosed he was “close” to moving to Manchester City last summer, before Sir Alex Ferguson intervened, and was particularly critical of the Ralf Rangnick era as well as the club’s crop of young players.

‘I regret leaving the stadium; I felt provoked’
On refusing to come on as a substitute against Tottenham in October after Ten Hag had not wanted to bring him on in the 6-3 defeat at Manchester City earlier that month:

“You don’t put me on against Manchester City because of respect for my career and you want to put me on for three minutes against Tottenham? It doesn’t make sense.

“I think he did it on purpose. I felt provoked not only because of that game, but before. He doesn’t respect [me] the way I should deserve.

“But it is what it is. This is why probably, the game against Tottenham, I left.

“I will be honest with you, it’s something that I regret, leaving the stadium [against Tottenham]. Probably, or maybe no, I don’t know.

“It’s difficult to tell you 100 per cent but let’s say I regret, but in the same way I felt provoked by the coach.

“A coach to put me in three minutes in a game [is] not allowed for me. 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. For me it was not respect, this is why I take this decision I regret.

“I apologised to my team-mates for the situation, I did a post – I regret leaving the stadium. I regret my team-mates know what I felt, and I apologised.

“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 come to me, he like me blah, blah, blah. But that’s only for the press. One hundred per cent.

“If you don’t have respect for me, I’m never going to have respect for you.”

On leaving before the end of Man Utd’s pre-season game against Rayo Vallecano at Old Trafford in July, Ronaldo added: “Me and eight players [left], but they mentioned only my name. Last year, many players did the same. In that game, eight players do the same but they only speak about the black sheep, which is me.

“I completely understand, okay, it’s done, I apologise to the coach and for me, the chapter was closed.”

‘Empathy with Ten Hag not good’
Speaking about his relationship with manager Erik ten Hag:

“I understand that in a new job [you try to make an impression.] Manchester was so bad in the last five years that they should clean the house, let’s say it in that way.

“But the way they approach, the way the press make this so big. I really understand in the beginning because I didn’t do the pre-season, I don’t start to play, but going more further than that.

“Other things happen that people, they don’t know. And I’m not hiding that the empathy with the coach is not good. I’m honest.”

Ronaldo turned down €350m Saudi move | ‘I’ve had many offers’
Asked whether he had been offered a two-year contract worth €350m (£305m) from a Saudi Arabian club:

“It’s true, yes, it’s true. In that moment [I turned it down], yes.

“They [the press] say many, many garbage things. Jorge Mendes has more than 100 players and they go to Chelsea and Arsenal, but they always mention Cristiano Ronaldo, ‘they offer Cristiano’.

“Let’s be honest, who is the most expensive salary player in the Premier League ever in history – it’s me, even at 37 years old.

“They [the media] even offered me to Sporting [Lisbon] or Napoli. I will be honest with you, I didn’t have many, many clubs but I have many, many offers of the other clubs.

“But what the press keep saying, the garbage, is that nobody wants me, which is completely wrong.

“And I was happy here [at United] to be honest, I was motivated to do a great season here [at United]. But they continue to repeat that nobody wants Cristiano.

“How they don’t want a player who last year scored 32 goals last year, [including] with the national team?”

Source: Sky Sports