Erik ten Hag reveals the breaking point in his relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo

Erik ten Hag has revealed in a recent interview the role of Cristiano Ronaldo in the Man Utd bust-up.

The club former manager accused Ronaldo of showing unprofessionalism, offering a scathing assessment of the forward’s attitude and fitness levels during the start of the 2022-23 season.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Athletic, Ten Hag detailed the breakdown of their working relationship, which ultimately culminated in Ronaldo's contract being mutually terminated.

Ten Hag took charge of the club in April 2022 during Ronaldo's second stint and shared that the Portuguese footballer pulled out of the training and did not work properly for the team.

Ten Hag told The Athletic in an in-depth interview, “I confronted him with this. Many times I say, ‘Ronnie, everyone wants to work for you to bring you in the right position, but if you can’t bring yourself in the box, you can’t score’.”

“He was not capable of doing this. It’s the wrong idea to put this to me that I expected him to do the pressing, that he’s exhausted. But he couldn’t. He ran neither in possession nor out of possession. The reason was because he didn’t prepare himself.”

"He was telling the players, 'Save your legs at the training'. I understand it when you are top fit; you have sessions, you can save the legs. But first you have to train yourself to get into the right fitness levels."

Ten Hag claimed that Ronaldo failed to prepare himself properly for the rigors of the Premier League season, citing instances where the forward pulled out of training sessions and failed to complete post-match conditioning runs following a 4-0 defeat to Brentford.

The Dutchman rejected notions that his tactical demands were unreasonable, explaining that Ronaldo was physically incapable of executing the required pressing game.

Ten Hag's remarks come following Ronaldo’s explosive unauthorized interview with Piers Morgan in which he said that "I don't have respect for him (Ten Hag) because he doesn't show respect for me."

Ronaldo left United by mutual consent in November 2022, months after Ten Hag took charge.