'It was a standoff!' - Ex-Man Utd coach sheds light on how Cristiano Ronaldo butted heads with former boss Erik ten Hag before monumental fall-out

A player with Ronaldo's CV was never going to sit quietly and accept the fact that he was a secondary player in Ten Hag's squad, but that was the reality facing the ex-Real Madrid superstar. Having deployed a high-energy, pressing set of tactics at Ajax, the Dutchman wanted to do the same in Manchester - something Ronaldo has never been asked to do. It led to a strained relationship between player and manager, with McClaren - who served as Ten Hag's assistant - opening up on the difficulties behind the scenes.

Speaking on The Good, The Bad and The Football Podcast, ex-England boss McClaren admitted that Ten Hag refused to back down. He said: "There was a lot of battles on that training field. There was a lot of, 'all I want you to do is this, this, this and this'. That was Erik's coaching, 'Ronnie, this is your job'.

"I used to say to Ronnie: 'all he [Ten Hag] wants you to do is, you're the first press, make one run, make two runs, and maybe make a third one, if you feel like it. And then, recover back into the middle, in case we win the ball, and then we can play to you.

"That's all he wants you to do. If you can't do that, you won't be playing. Or if you won't do that, you can't be playing. Okay, or he won't pick you. I'm telling you, he won't pick you'.

"It's not like, I think other people would (compromise), and that's the difference, other people would. But Erik was, no, I'm doing that, and he's [Ronaldo] got to do it, otherwise he doesn't play.

"It was a little bit of a fight. Not a fight, but a standoff, and who is going to win? Erik stuck to his guns. I think most managers would accommodate to that, same managers are like that. But he stuck to his guns."

After his departure and eventual move to Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, Ronaldo returned once again to criticise his former club, claiming that their current model will not allow them to compete for the biggest prizes and trophies. Speaking on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, he said: "The coach, they say they cannot compete to win the League and Champions League.

"(As) Manchester United coach, you cannot say that you're not going to fight to win the League or Champions League. You have to be, to mentally say, 'listen, maybe we don't have that potential, but I cannot say that. We're going to try. You have to try'."

Ten Hag was eventually sacked and replaced by Ruben Amorim, who has also since lost his job. Ronaldo, meanwhile, has struggled to win silverware in the Middle East, although Al-Nassr are putting up a good fight in the Saudi Pro League title race this season, despite rivals Al-Hilal signing his former Madrid team-mate Karim Benzema in January.

At Old Trafford, Michael Carrick has taken over on an interim basis until the end of the season. As it stands, the Red Devils are on track to qualify for the Champions League, despite having no European football this term.