da bet7： Cristiano Ronaldo was a “lot more opinionated” during his second spell at Manchester United, with Mike Phelan revealing why that move went wrong.

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Portuguese superstar returned to England in 2021Demanded high standards from those around himAlienated himself and was released in November 2022WHAT HAPPENED?

The Portuguese superstar completed an emotional return to Old Trafford in the summer of 2021 when severing ties with Juventus. He found himself back in England some 12 years after leaving for a record-breaking stint at Real Madrid.

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Ronaldo was a five-time Ballon d’Or winner with a handful of Champions League crowns on his CV when re-joining the Red Devils and expected nothing but the best from those around him. Former United coach Phelan has told of a dream move that turned into a nightmare: “The second time round, he came in a lot older and a lot more opinionated, strong-willed. 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. 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. But a really good personality, hard-working and challenging. He challenged me as a coach, Carlos Queiroz as a coach and Sir Alex [Ferguson] as a manager. But that's good because it takes you to another level.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Phelan added on what Ronaldo was like to work with during his first stint at Old Trafford, when he was a starry-eyed winger back in 2003: “The first time, the challenging part was that Cristiano came to Manchester United knowing in his own mind that he was going to be the best in the world. He had one ball under his hand and the team had another. And this was a young kid, one who came from Portugal and was made there, and made that sacrifice to come away from that, where he was comfortable, to a club like Manchester United and learn everything from an English and British perspective.

“He had all the skill set, the mentality – but what we tried to do with [former assistant manager] Carlos Queiroz was we tried to integrate him into the team and he responded brilliantly. His work ethic and practice was fantastic and it rubbed off on the players. They knew there was someone special there. In that environment, with the standards so high, the players knew this guy could take them where they needed to go and to go again. He did that brilliantly.”

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Ronaldo hit 118 goals for United during his first spell – claiming his first Golden Ball and Champions League trophy along the way – before plundering 27 through 54 appearances in a second stint with the Red Devils that was brought to a close in November 2022. He is now plying his club trade with Al-Nassr at 38 years of age and is showing no sign of slowing down with club and country.