Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United under a grey cloud twice, but that has not stopped the five-time Ballon d’Or winner from declaring his love for the 20-time champions of England.
Manchester United recently appointed Ruben Amorim as head coach after sacking Erik ten Hag, who Cristiano Ronaldo had a frosty relationship with during his second spell at Old Trafford.
Amorim has had a tough start to life in the Premier League as United sit in 14th place – regrettably closer to the relegation zone than the Champions League spots. His job is to get United back challenging at the top for the biggest honours in football.
United’s new head coach has lost five of his first 10 games across all competitions, including a 2-0 defeat against Wolves on Boxing Day, which continued a three-game loss streak.
Right now, the United first-team is failing to meet expectations. The pressure is building on Amorim after a poor start in terms of results, although fans can see minor improvements in how the team is performing.
There’s more control to our play, we’re conceding fewer chances from open play, but winning football matches remains a struggle.
Cristiano Ronaldo backs Ruben Amorim to succeed at Manchester United
Although Ronaldo is playing his football in Saudi Arabia, the Portugal international has kept a close eye on United.
Not only does Ronaldo believe the future will be brighter for United, he claims the “storm” swirling around Old Trafford could finish under Amorim as it existed long before his arrival.
Speaking at the Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai, where he picked up the 2024 Best Middle East Player award, Ronaldo referred to Amorim’s time at Sporting with belief that he’s the right man for United.
“He did a fantastic job in Portugal with my Sporting,” Ronaldo said at the awards ceremony on Friday. “But as I said before, the Premier League is a different beast. It’s a different league.
“It’s the most competitive league in the world. It will be tough. The storm will continue but the storm will finish, and the sun will rise.
“Fingers crossed that things will be good with him and I hope the best for Manchester United because this is a club that I still love.”
It will be music to the ears of United fans when they hear Ronaldo still has admiration for his former club, where he blossomed as a young prospect under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Things didn’t go to plan when Ronaldo returned and it ended in ugly fashion.
Ronaldo tackles United’s biggest problem
Ronaldo has valuable insight at United from the glory days to the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, which makes it intriguing when he reveals his thoughts on why the football club is struggling.
| Games | Goals | Assists |
| 346 | 145 | 65 |
He added that United’s problem is not the coaches, referencing a sick fish to explain his reasoning, and it sounds like he could be angling his frustration at the Glazer family.
“The Premier League is the most difficult league in the world,” Ronaldo said. “All the teams are good, all the teams they fight, all the teams run. All the players are strong.
“Football is different right now, there’s no easy games anymore.
“I said this one year and a half ago and I will continue to say it: the problem is not the coaches.
“I always give this example, it is like the aquarium. If you have the fish inside and he is sick, and you take him out and fix the problem. If you put him in the aquarium they will be sick again.
“The problem of Manchester United is not only the coach. It is much more than that.”
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