Erik ten Hag has accused Cristiano Ronaldo of “letting the team down” by failing to train properly during his ill-fated second spell at Manchester United.

The club’s former head coach also criticised Sir Jim Ratcliffe for fuelling a “toxic culture” after failing to back him on disciplinary matters relating to Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and other first-team players.

In an interview with the Athletic, Ten Hag’s most ferocious criticism was reserved for Ronaldo, who was already back at Old Trafford when Ten Hag was first hired in 2022. “He let the team down, and he let me down, because we planned with him,” says Ten Hag.

The pair’s acrimonious fallout led to Ronaldo’s departure in November 2022. United terminated his contract, following an interview with Piers Morgan, where Ronaldo said that he felt “betrayed” by Ten Hag.

Ten Hag has claimed Ronaldo “didn’t prepare himself” properly for games. He allegedly pulled out of training sessions and did not get his heart rate raised to the required level when he did train, Ten Hag said. He also accused him of completing two of the three scheduled laps of the infamous run Ten Hag made his players do after they lost 4-0 at Brentford in August 2022.

“I confronted him with this,” Ten Hag told the Athletic of his alleged failure to get fit. “Many times I say, ‘Ronnie, everyone wants to work for you to bring you in the right position, but if you can’t bring yourself in the box, you can’t score’. He was not capable to do this. It’s the wrong idea to put this to me that I expected him to do the pressing, that he’s exhausted. But he couldn’t. He ran neither in possession nor out of possession. The reason was because he didn’t prepare himself. Every top team has to embrace the top player, but the top player has to work for the team.

“He was telling the players, ‘Save your legs at the training’. I understand it when you are top fit; you have sessions, you can save the legs. But first you have to train yourself to get into the right fitness levels.”

Ten Hag also accused the new Ineos co-owners of failing to back him on some United disciplinary matters. “They are continuing the toxic culture,” he added. “They fuel it, they give the power to the players. Rashford is an amazing player, if his mindset is right. I always showed my trust in him, played him. But when you show these standards, sometimes you have to make corrections.”

Ten Hag suggested in the interview he felt he had to play bad cop to players to enforce the rules, yet at the same time he had to pick players he thought would win matches. It was a similar situation with Ronaldo, a player Ten Hag inherited, the Portuguese having returned to Old Trafford for a second spell at the club in August 2021.

Ronaldo has not responded to Ten Hag’s comments.

Ten Hag has given few interviews since his sacking in October 2024. Michael Carrick is now under pressure and he urged the club to give him time, claiming “it is not the solution” to sack the former United midfielder and trigger yet another change of management.