Manchester United ace Cristiano Ronaldo flies to Portugal after suffering injury prior to Manchester derby

According to The Sun, Manchester United ace Cristiano Ronaldo has flown back to his native Portugal due to complaints of an injury, after being dropped by interim manager Ralf Rangnick for the Manchester derby.

On Friday, the German boss was informed by the medical team that Ronaldo had suffered a hip flexor injury. To add insult to injury, the Portuguese superstar was also informed by Rangnick that he would not be starting the game against Manchester City, with the head coach wanting fresh legs for the derby.

At 37, Ronaldo is not the youngest player on the pitch, but his drive and determination to keep himself fit and ready to play games is hardly a secret. In fact, the forward has started nearly all of United’s games this season despite his age and the intense fixture schedule.

It is believed that Ronaldo has flown back to sunny Portugal as he hopes that the warm weather in his homeland will help his injury heal quicker. So far, neither the club nor the player has confirmed this news about the star’s departure from Manchester.

Ronaldo furious at Rangnick decision

This news has led to a reaction from former United captain Roy Keane, who was of the opinion that Rangnick was covering up something regarding Ronaldo’s absence from the squad for the Manchester derby.

Keane, who won 7 Premier League titles with the club, said that for a player who gets injured very rarely, it doesn’t add up when the manager talked about his hip flexor injury for a reason not to play Ronaldo.

“‘I just don’t like it when the manager talks about this hip flexor, I don’t get it. We talk about Ronaldo being some sort of machine, he’s very rarely injured and then every now and again he comes out with something that and says hip flexor. It doesn’t add up to me.”

The news of Ronaldo flying out to Portugal after being dropped from the squad for the City clash has not gone well in the dressing room, with his teammates surprised that he did not stay at the team hotel with the rest of them before the derby.

There clearly seem to be a lot of rumours floating around Ronaldo and the derby, and United’s 4-1 loss to City did not help quash any news. If anything, we would have wished we had the forward playing up front for us last night to offer some quality to a side that was outplayed by our opponents.

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If the news about the former Real Madrid star departing for his homeland after being axed from the team is true, then it reflects poorly on Ronaldo. As a senior member of the team, he is expected to lead by example and show some professionalism to set the standards for others.

For now, we can expect this headline to float around for the next few days until it is addressed by either Ronaldo or the club. The best way, however, to put this to rest is to bounce back quickly against Tottenham Hotspur on the weekend and put both the loss and the injury saga behind us as soon as possible.