MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo will be left out of Manchester United's squad to face Chelsea, the club said Thursday after the Portugal international walked out of the team's 2-0 win over Tottenham before the final whistle.
United manager Erik ten Hag said after Wednesday's match at Old Trafford that he would “deal with” Ronaldo a day later.
“Cristiano will not be part of the Manchester United squad for this Saturday’s game against Chelsea," United said in a statement Thursday. "The rest of the squad is fully focused on preparing for that fixture.”
Ronaldo will also train away from the first team until after that match, with United saying it fully backs the decision made by Ten Hag.
United would not comment on reports Ronaldo refused to come on as a late substitute. The manager has a regularly scheduled pre-game press conference Friday.
On Thursday, Ten Hag was fielding questions about the 37-year-old Ronaldo on a night when United produced arguably its best performance of the season.
“I don’t pay attention today,” the Dutchman said after the match. “We deal with that tomorrow. I want to keep the focus on this team. It was a magnificent performance from all the 11 players.”
Ten Hag has already proved himself a strict disciplinarian — canceling his team's day off after the 4-0 defeat to Brentford in August, while he was also critical of Ronaldo and other players for leaving a preseason friendly against Rayo Vallecano early in July.
___
AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
___
James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
