Roy Keane backs Erik ten Hag decision to bench Cristiano Ronaldo in first Manchester United game

Roy Keane believes it is common sense for Erik ten Hag to leave Cristiano Ronaldo out of his first starting XI as Manchester United, simply due to the forward’s lack of action in pre-season.

Ronaldo had to make do with a place on the bench for United’s clash with Brighton at Old Trafford on Sunday as Ten Hag led the Red Devils in the Premier League for the first time.

This came after the 37-year-old missed much of Manchester United’s pre-season friendlies, only playing half of the final pre-season clash with Rayo Vallecano.

Club legend Keane is a huge fan of the veteran striker, but says it was a simple decision for Ten Hag to leave Ronaldo out of the starting line-up given how little he has played this summer.

‘I think it was a pretty straight forward call from the manager,’ Keane told Sky Sports. ‘As brilliant as Ronaldo is, he’s only had 45 minutes in pre-season.

‘I don’t care how well you look after yourself, you need more than that over the course of pre-season. I think he’s looking at the players he’s got, Brighton at home, and he fancies his chances without Ronaldo to beat Brighton.’

Asked whether it sets something of a precedent for the unsettled striker, Keane said: ‘No, not really.

‘I think there’s obviously issues going on in the background and they’ve got a few weeks to look at that. But from a footballing point of view, today was a straightforward call for the manager to make because of the lack of minutes Ronaldo’s had.

’45 minutes last week, I watched the game, he didn’t exactly put himself around. He needs more minutes under his belt before you can trust him to go into a Premier League match… It was just common sense really.’

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