Steve McClaren, who was part of Erik ten Hag’s staff, has spoken about the clash between Cristiano Ronaldo and the Dutch coach, indicating that he understood early on that the situation would go towards an “either me or him” situation.
Ronaldo clashed with Ten Hag during his second spell at Man United, and as a result, he finally left Old Trafford a few months later.
McClaren, who was once on Sir Alex Ferguson’s staff, returned after 21 years for Ten Hag, while for “The Athletic” he revealed behind the scenes what exactly happened between Ronaldo and the former Ajax coach.
“Erik tried to impose his style and that’s why he had that conflict with Ronaldo all the time. I told Erik, very early on: ‘It’s you or him’.”
Cristiano Ronaldo and Steve McClaren
He added that Ronaldo, in general, was correct, but did not accept the role and tactical tasks that Ten Hag demanded, especially without the ball.
“Ronaldo was usually OK. But he didn’t want to do the job that Erik wanted him to do. Or he didn’t feel he was capable of doing it. The instructions without the ball were: ‘Get in the middle, once you get back you’re the first press, then a double run, even a triple sometimes,'” McClaren explained.
“It’s right that 11 players attack and 11 defend. Not 11 players attack and 10 defend. So I said: ‘You have to run, it’s simple, Ronnie. If you don’t, you don’t play.'”
McClaren added that some other coaches may have tried to adapt and accommodate Ronaldo to get the best out of him, but this came at a huge cost to the balance of the team and the dressing room.
“Maybe other coaches have tried to adapt and accommodate him to get the most out of him. But the balance of that was great. Most likely, half the team was saying: ‘We think Ronnie is right’, while the other half: ‘We think Erik is right'”, he concluded.
