Cristiano Ronaldo underlined his iconic status last week by reaching a record-breaking milestone of 900 career goals.
Ronaldo turns 40 next February but the former Manchester United and Real Madrid star is showing no signs of slowing down and has already declared his intention to reach 1,000 goals by the time he retires.
While Ronaldo continues to flourish for Portugal and Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, his old club United are facing familiar struggles, back-to-back Premier League defeats piling fresh pressure on beleaguered boss Erik ten Hag. …CONTINUE READING
Ronaldo and Erik Ten Hag did not get on during the forward’s second spell at United, which ended acrimoniously nearly two years ago. In an explosive interview, Ronaldo said he had no respect for Ten Hag and felt “betrayed” by him, leaving United no choice but to terminate his £400,000-a-week deal.
Despite that ugly ending, Ronaldo retains a deep affection for United and has set out what he thinks must happen if they are to get back to the glory days he enjoyed there in his first spell, winning the Premier League, Champions League and being one of the dominant forces in world football.
“The club needs time to rebuild, because it’s still one of the best clubs in the world – but they need to change,” Ronaldo told old team-mate Rio Ferdinand. “They understand that this is the only way. This is why they show, they start to change again, the structure of the club, the president, the infrastructures and everything. The owners of the club.
“They’re investing in the training ground. So I’m happy because [things are changing]. I’m not happy the way it all happened, but in the same way, we cannot control some points of our life sometimes, but it’s done, already done.
“But I believe that the future will be bright. I believe, but they don’t depend only on the talents. It’s more than that. It’s all club, all, not only players, club, everything as a unit – united – you know?
“They have to rebuild from the bottom. If not, they cannot compete. It will be impossible. They can do good things, yes, they can win the Carabao Cup, yeah, but I mean, Champions League or Europa League or Premier League? Difficult, in my opinion. I wish that I’m wrong, I wish, but it will be difficult.”
Ten Hag has been backed in the restructuring of his coaching staff, which included the return of former United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who scored 150 goals in 219 games for the club.
Ronaldo claimed Ten Hag will only turn United’s fortunes around if he listens to Van Nistelrooy, who knows first-hand what it takes to be successful at Old Trafford.
“If Ten Hag listens to Ruud, maybe he can [help himself],” said Ronaldo. “I think it can help a lot, because he knows the club and the club should listen to the guys who were there. You [ Ferdinand ], Roy Keane or Paul Scholes or Gary Neville, whatever, Sir Alex Ferguson. You cannot rebuild a club without knowledge. Not guys who work in the office. They understand.
“The people who understand football are the people who were there in the dressing-room. They know how to deal with the players. It’s the people who understand these things.
“So I believe that Ruud is going to help, because he was inside the club. He knows the club. He knows the fans. If the coach listens to him, I think they can improve the club a little bit.”
