A goal in his last ten games, Cristiano Ronaldo has not been used to such statistics during his career. Yet this is the current record of the Portuguese. An almost dry breakdown which coincides with the arrival of Ralf Rangnick as coach of the Red Devils. Since the arrival of the German last December, a malaise has arisen around Ronaldo at Manchester United.
In addition to his complicated statistics since the start of 2022, behind the scenes, everything is not rosy for the 37-year-old Portuguese where many tensions in the Mancunian locker room would have erupted in his last weeks. Rangnick criticized the Portuguese for not being decisive enough, while the former Real Madrid player believes that the German does not have the level required to coach a club like ManU. All against a backdrop of tension in the locker room around the captaincy of Maguire disputed by CR7. For a month, Ronaldo has also been announced on the departure to Old Trafford but since his absence from the score sheet during the Manchester derby last weekend, the exit door seems to have approached with great strides for the Portuguese.
Officially, Ronaldo’s absence for the game against Manchester City is due to an injury as Ralf Rangnick explained before the game: “He has had psoas discomfort since Friday and there is a risk for the return match against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League”, he explained. A stunning statement given how important the Manchester derby was to the Red Devils with the Champions League second leg only nine days later. So much so that the other core players did not understand why the Portuguese star had chosen to save himself for the match against Atletico.
According to the English press, the players were surprised not to see the Portuguese at the common meal on Saturday, the day before the meeting. Ronaldo had indeed returned home to Portugal according to The Athletic. A trip kept secret by Manchester United. An attitude that the rest of the locker room finds difficult to accept because the Red Devils consider that CR7 puts its interests before those of the group according to AS. If this Monday, no one within the Mancunian club could say whether or not Ronaldo had returned to Manchester, the Portuguese finally showed up this Tuesday morning for training but the discomfort now seems deep between Ronaldo, Rangnick and the heavyweights of the locker room.
The divorce therefore seems to be getting closer and closer between Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United and a departure from the Portuguese at the end of the season would be anything but a surprise.
