Cristiano Ronaldo has to serve a penalty at Manchester United

On Friday morning at 8.30 a.m. Cristiano Ronaldo started his penalty duty at the Carrington Training Centre. The program included individual exercises with a fitness coach, away from the team. “He should reflect,” said Manchester United coach Erik ten Hag about the star striker’s ban, which will only be lifted after the match at Chelsea on Saturday night.

Ronaldo made a point of leaving Old Trafford Stadium before the final whistle in Wednesday’s 2-0 win against Tottenham. As it turned out later, the 37-year-old had previously even refused to be substituted on. “That must have consequences,” said ten Hag, “we live and play together, there are rules and standards. Football is a team sport.”

Whether Ronaldo sees the latter in principle can be doubted. Even in better times, the Portuguese was always suspected of being primarily concerned with his own performance on the pitch. He had also trained alone at Carrington from time to time last season; when the hip flexor pinched again or, as fellow players suspected, the desire for intensive running units was not very pronounced.

The team and the interim coach Ralf Rangnick let him get away with the capers because he was the formative figure in the storm with 24 goals this season and there was no real alternative to the aging diva in the squad. This season, however, they have only scored two goals, one of them from the penalty spot against Transnistrian lightweight Sheriff Tiraspol in the Europa League. In the league, ten Hag allowed Ronaldo to start only twice and United kept a clean sheet in both games; 0-4 v Brentford, 0-0 v Newcastle.

The club legend Peter Schmeichel no longer protects him

Ronaldo has become expendable. Without him, the team, which was raised for 236 million francs in the summer, plays more agile, more flexible, better. That also explains why ten Hag seemed almost amused on Wednesday when he was asked about possible sanctions against the attacker, who hastily fled the venue.

The “ego exit” distracted from United’s best performance of the season. But he also provided arguments that the Dutch coach is not so wrong with his tough line. Ten Hag should feel confirmed: An aging star who so obviously puts his own well-being above that of the collective is simply useless for a new build that is about to start.

Secretly, ten Hag must have suspected this at the beginning of the summer, when he publicly spoke of Ronaldo’s “great importance” for his team. But then the striker let the club know that he would rather switch to a club in the Champions League. And he missed the Asia tour – for “private reasons”, as it was said.

Even in the friendly against Rayo Vallecano at the end of July, Ronaldo had jetted out of the stadium before the final whistle, and he wasn’t the only one at the time. The next sign of displeasure came a week ago when Ronaldo was substituted twenty minutes from time in the 0-0 draw against Newcastle and stomped off the pitch, shaking his head. Ten Hag turned a blind eye. “I don’t think any player is happy when he’s substituted, especially Ronaldo,” he said. “I understand that. As long as it’s done in a calm, normal way, it’s not a problem.”

After the recent scandal, however, the calm is over. Regardless of the results, the topic will accompany the club until the World Cup break next month, thanks to the many former United players who, as experts on the island, have their say almost every hour.

Rio Ferdinand and Roy Keane, who were on the pitch with Ronaldo, have both defended him recently and accused ten Hag of disdaining a club icon. However, Peter Schmeichel, a goalie at United in the 1990s, moved away from scoring in light of Wednesday’s events. The Dane told the BBC: “I usually support him and understand his situation, but I’m disappointed in him. We don’t need such secondary theaters of war.”

Which other club should pay him €29m a year?

Ronaldo explained in a flowery message on Instagram, allegedly drafted by his PR agency, that he had unfortunately failed to fulfill his role as a role model “in the heat of the moment” and vowed support for his team: “We are Manchester United and stand together.” The only question is for how long.

Jorge Mendes, Ronaldo’s advisor, had offered him to Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, SSC Napoli and his youth club Sporting Lisbon in the summer transfer window; There were rejections everywhere because these clubs didn’t want to bring in a hard-to-raise veteran who also breaks all wage limits.

Even if Ronaldo were willing to forego a significant part of his annual salary of 29 million euros in January, the number of serious interested parties should be manageable. According to the latest impressions from Manchester, the risks for the working atmosphere seem too high. Ronaldo considers any game he sits on the bench to be lese majeste. Last year he had tried in vain to get the captain’s armband worn by Harry Maguire.

Warmed-up relationships rarely deliver what they promise

The constellation with the upcoming World Cup increases Ronaldo’s displeasure. Because the Portuguese wants to travel to Qatar in good shape. Although he still has a few sympathizers and admirers in the dressing room in Manchester and the audience at Old Trafford regularly calls him “Viva Ronaldo!” due to his historic services to the Red Devils. cheers, extending this soap opera into next year wouldn’t help anyone.

The problem is not easy to solve. United doesn’t seem at all willing to terminate his contract and pay him off. And Ronaldo will hardly give up his entire income without having a new employer in sight. An end as a bench presser and part-time Europa League player would be the inglorious end of his glorious career at Old Trafford. But this punchline would only be logical: warmed-up relationships after thirteen years apart rarely live up to the promises of nostalgic memories.