Fred, Brazilian international midfielder who coincided with Cristiano Ronaldo during his second spell at Manchester United, between 2021 and late 2022, recalled this Saturday the controversial way the national team captain left Old Trafford, after clashing with his then manager, Erik ten Hag.
Live on the "Charla Podcast", Fred, who at 33 plays for Atlético Mineiro, began by giving his opinion on Ten Hag, considering, bluntly, that the Dutch coach, who currently serves as technical director at Twente, was 'very good tactically', but 'shit with the group'.
'He 'fought' with everyone. He 'fought' with Cristiano [Ronaldo], 'fought' with Casemiro, 'fought' with me... Like that, the guy loses the group, you understand? Why did he 'fight' with me? Because he wouldn't play me. It's natural for a person to get 'stressed'. He only took his Dutch guys. But tactically he was one of the best [coaches] I've worked with,' he said.
Asked about the bust-up between Ten Hag and Ronaldo, who terminated his contract with United in November 2022, after a controversial interview in which he slammed the coach and the club's own structure, eventually heading to Al Nassr, Fred told how the whole case unfolded.
'Cristiano was fine, scoring goals. [Ten Hag] arrived and wanted the team to run. Cristiano, damn, older, we had to run for him, that's normal. He didn't want to and then he took Cristiano out. Then there was a game where people were saying: 'Cristiano is leaving.' We arrived from a game and, when the plane landed, the media guys took [their phones] off flight mode and that's when he gave that interview, in which he tore the club apart. The advisors... He spoke, he couldn't speak, that week was chaos. And then he left,' he recalled.
Watch the full interview: