Aheed Abrar
Erik ten Hag now happy with the fitness of Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo after he missed pre-season
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is now happy with the fitness of Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portugal international missed most of the pre-season under the Dutch manager.
Subsequently, Ronaldo has not had the best of starts to the 2022/23 campaign. The 37-year-old has not been given an opportunity to start many games either.
Speaking to the media ahead of the fixture against Omonia Nicosia in the UEFA Europa League via Manchester Evening News, Ten Hag hinted at Ronaldo’s absence from pre-season as a reason for his lack of fitness.
“I want to get the best out of him, he’s in better shape now and I’m happy with that. At the start, it was the case [lack of fitness], it’s proven once again, no one can miss a pre-season.”
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner missed United’s Asia and Australia tour. It was only in the final friendly against Rayo Vallecano at Old Trafford that the 37-year-old was available.
Ronaldo was on the bench in the Red Devils’ first competitive fixture of the season against Brighton & Hove Albion. The Portuguese came on in the second half. However, we ended up losing 2-1.
United then visited the Gtech Community Stadium to face Brentford. And Ronaldo started against the Bees. However, we conceded four goals in the first 35 minutes as we lost 4-0.
The game against Brentford was Ronaldo’s last start in the league. Since then, the 37-year-old has only been used as a substitute by Ten Hag. Although, the Portuguese has started in all of our UEL fixtures so far.
Ronaldo has struggled to find the back of the net this season. He managed to open his account for the 2022/23 campaign with a penalty against Sheriff Tiraspol.
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Against Everton, the 37-year-old came on at the half-hour mark to replace Anthony Martial. And the Portuguese beat Jordan Pickford to score his 700th club career goal and give United the lead as the game ended 2-1.
Hopefully, Ronaldo can kick off his season now and show the form that made him the Red Devils’ top goalscorer in all competitions in the previous campaign.
