Cristiano Ronaldo couldn’t hide his anger after being substituted during Manchester United’s 3-1 win over Brentford on Wednesday night. However, fans and pundits alike shouldn’t be surprised. This isn’t the first time it’s happened and it’s unlikely to be the last.
Ronaldo was unable to find the net as United beat Brentford.
Instead, it was academy trio Anthony Elanga, Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford who produced the goods to give Ralf Rangnick’s team all three points.
While United were impressive in the second half, however, Ronaldo’s strop threatened to cast a cloud over their evening.
Yet it should come as no surprise. After all, for years, this has been part of the package.
Ronaldo is an unapologetic serial winner. He wants to play every minute of every game because, more often that not, he’s able to.
Furthermore, even at the age of 36, the veteran still has the fire and hunger in his belly to succeed at the highest level.
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“I don’t want to hurt anybody. I know there will be eyes on me because of what I am, what I achieve, what I win.
“They don’t want to give me credit for the good things; they’re always going to find the bad things but for me it’s not a problem.
“Life’s a constant lesson and I still learn with my mistakes, trying to improve the next game.”
Since that match with Everton, Ronaldo has thrown further tantrums against the likes of Newcastle and Chelsea.
But Ralf Rangnick has insisted he did the right thing by hooking his No 7 against Brentford, saying: “He [Ronaldo] said ‘Why me, why did you take me off?’ I said I had to make the decision for the team, for the club.
“Maybe in a few years, when he is a coach, he will understand. I didn’t expect him to hug me after being subbed.
“I know how goal-scoring players think and how they tick, but I have to make my decisions in the interest of the team. I have no issue whatsoever with Cristiano.
“I told him [Ronaldo] we were 2-0 up, and we have to learn lessons from Villa Park. After that game, I was angry with myself for not changing to a back five.
“Today was exactly the same situation, 2-0 with 15 left and I did not want to make the same mistake again.”
Rangnick also said it was ‘normal’ that Ronaldo wanted to stay on the field, while also claiming it was in his team’s best interests for the forward to come off.
“Okay, it is normal,” he said.
“As a striker, he wants to score goals.
“He came back from a little injury so for me it was important to bear in mind we have another game in three days time.
“On the other hand, we were two-nil up, the same result we had at Villa Park and I decided to make sure we defend that lead this time.
“I think it was the right decision to switch to a back five.
“We scored the third goal and then in the end, we would have wanted to keep a clean sheet and unfortunately we didn’t manage to keep a clean sheet, but at least we made sure nothing happened anymore.”
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