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Diogo Dalot claims Cristiano Ronaldo once told him an unidentified Manchester United star ‘wouldn’t make it’ at the club because he lacked ‘fire’ in his game.
The United defender has sparked a mystery over who it was that Ronaldo didn’t rate in a piece for the Players’ Tribune, published on Friday.
Dalot and Ronaldo were team-mates at United after the Portuguese superstar’s sensational return to Old Trafford, which eventually ended in an acrimonious exit after a fallout with then manager Erik ten Hag.
Dalot said: ‘That season with Cristiano was when I really started to grow as a player and as a person. I lost count of the number of predictions he got right, because he knows so well what it takes to go to the top.
‘If anyone skipped a set in the gym, he would notice. We had a striker here who did really well for us in his first season, but Cristiano said, “He’s not gonna make it here.”
Diogo Dalot claims Cristiano Ronaldo once told him a Man United star wouldn’t make it at the club
‘I said, “Cris, he scored two goals today!”
‘He said, “Yeah, but he didn’t have the fire to go for the third.”
Dalot does not directly reference the player and it is not immediately clear who it could be.
The only United star to score twice in a match in Ronaldo’s first season back – other than Ronaldo himself – was Bruno Fernandes, who netted a hat-trick against Leeds on the opening day of the 2021-22 campaign and two against Aston Villa the following January.
Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford (twice) scored braces before Ronaldo sensationally left the club in November 2022, but all three came in the first three months of the 2022-23 campaign and not his first season back at the club.
Dalot was also not at United during Martial and Rashford’s respective first seasons at Old Trafford.
It is likely the Portuguese full back is misremembering and has got his timelines confused as another possibility is Mason Greenwood.
Greenwood, who enjoyed a superb breakthrough campaign in 2019-20, never scored twice for United when he was a team-mate of Ronaldo but netted in three games while sharing a pitch with him.
The forward also bagged a brace in a win over Burnley in April 2021, four months before Ole Gunnar Solskjaer brought Ronaldo back to the club, but this came during Dalot’s loan spell at AC Milan.
Greenwood’s last game at United came midway through the 2021-22 season after he was arrested in January 2022 before being charged with attempted rape, assault and controlling and coercive behaviour.
Charges against Greenwood were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service following the ‘withdrawal of key witnesses and new material coming to light’.
Other forward players to have found the net in Ronaldo’s first season of his second spell at United include Jadon Sancho and Edinson Cavani.
In the Players’ Tribune piece, Dalot also addressed the criticism he has faced during his eight years at Old Trafford.
Dalot also addressed the criticism he has received during his eight years at Old Trafford
‘One thing I’ve learned is that it’s never as bad as what the outside world tells you,’ Dalot writes.
“Worst right-back in the league. Should not be playing for Man United.”
‘I know it’s not true.’
Dalot and Ronaldo are in the Portugal squad for the World Cup, alongside United captain Bruno Fernandes.
