EPL: Real reason I didn’t play Ronaldo in Man Utd’s defeat to City – Ten Hag

Manchester United manager, Erik ten Hag, has explained why he didn’t play forward Cristiano Ronaldo in his side’s Premier League 6-3 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday.

Ten Hag benched Ronaldo during Man United’s tie against Man City at Etihad Stadium.

The former Ajax coach, however, left the Portugal captain on the bench for the game as Anthony Martial replaced Marcus Rashford with 31 minutes remaining.

Erling Haaland and Phil Foden both scored hat-tricks to give Pep Guardiola’s side the victory over the Red Devils.

Speaking on his decision not to play Ronaldo against Man City, Ten Hag said he did not want to feature the former Real Madrid star out of respect for his big career.

“I would not bring him in out of respect for Cristiano, for his big career,” Ten Hag said at his post-match press conference.

“And the other thing is there was the advantage I could bring Anthony Martial, he needs the minutes, but I don’t want to point it out like that.”