When Sir Alex Ferguson loved Cristiano Ronaldo's angry reaction to Manchester United substitution

21.01.2022 - 11:11 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

It's not often that Cristiano Ronaldo is substituted but his angry reaction would not have been a surprise to Sir Alex Ferguson.

The 36-year-old, returning after two games out injured, was withdrawn with just under 20 minutes to play against Brentford and with Manchester United seemingly comfortable 2-0 up.

It's not the first time he has been substituted since returning to Old Trafford - he has been withdrawn more times since September than during three years with Juventus - and produced a similarly defiant response during his final season at the club 11 seasons ago.

Under Ferguson, United were cruising 2-0 against Manchester City in the derby. Ronaldo had opened the scoring with a free kick and Carlos Tevez had doubled the advantage before the break.

But Ferguson had seen enough and replaced Ronaldo with Paul Scholes with only even an hour played.

Ronaldo reacted with plenty of shakes of the head and even a pep talk from Ferguson on the touchline could not calm him down as he immediately swatted away a coat as he walked to the bench.

Ferguson, well known for his scathing dressing down's during his team talks, was relatively calm and found the attacker's attitude refreshing. He said after the match: "It is great that he wanted to play on. It is fabulous. But I have to look at the big picture.

"He produced an incredible performance against Arsenal on Tuesday. He ran his socks off. Now I have Wednesday and Saturday to look after. There is no problem."

The five-time Ballon d'Or's relationship with the legendary Scottish manager is unfathomable after the pair struck up a flourishing relationship during the Portugal international's time in the North West between 2003 and 2009 after the 13-time Premier League tactician signed