MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – Manchester United coach Erik ten Hag confirmed Cristiano Ronaldo refused to come on as a substitute against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday, and is now training alone away from the first-team squad.
Ronaldo was an unused substitute in Wednesday’s 2-0 home win and walked down the tunnel with a few minutes of the match remaining after being left on the bench again by Ten Hag. He is not part of the squad that will face Chelsea on Saturday.
“Yes,” Ten Hag told reporters on Friday when asked if the Portuguese veteran refused to come on.
“I am the manager, I am responsible for the culture here and I have to set standards and values and I have to control them. In the team, we have values and standards and I have to control that.
“It will have a (time for) reflection for him, but also for everyone else, I said at the start of the season, next time there have to be consequences, football is a team sport and you have to fulfil certain standards. And I have to control it.”
(Reporting by Peter Hall, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
