A Manchester United coach during Cristiano Ronaldo's second spell at the club has revealed how his high standards led to him losing favour with some of his teammates.
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In 2021, the Madeira native made an emotional return to Old Trafford following his €15 million (R304 million) switch from Juventus.
By that time, he had already won five Ballons d'Or and just as many UEFA Champions League titles, and scored a plethora of goals for the Bianconeri and Real Madrid.
Former United assistant Mike Phelan has now revealed that while Ronaldo may have been expecting the same high standards from people at Old Trafford upon his return, the attitude may not have been reciprocated and ultimately led to him losing favour in the dressing room.
"The second time round, he came in a lot older and a lot more opinionated, strong-willed," the 60-year-old told Sky Sports.
"He still had massively high standards and was terrific to work with. But I'd probably say a tougher mindset. He had been at Man United, he had been Portugal's ever-present, he had been at Madrid.
"I liked it because he didn't want his standards to drop, he wanted other people's standards to come up. And sometimes you lose a few people along the way when that happens.
"I remember certain times when he pushed and pushed hard, and he didn't get much reaction or much response. And there was frustration.
"When you deal with top, top people, it's about them and where they can finish and where they can get to. They want to look back and go 'Wow, that was successful'.
"And he probably realised, and I don't know as I never had that conversation with him, that he couldn't do it at Manchester United. So his challenges were elsewhere.
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"He's still playing international football; yes, he's in Saudi Arabia, but he's still playing and scoring goals. He is doing all the things we knew he could do at Manchester United."
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