Christian Eriksen says Manchester United will soon 'forget what it was like' after Cristiano Ronaldo exit
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Published 28/12/2022 at 16:06 GMT
Cristiano Ronaldo is no longer with Manchester United after his contract was terminated during the 2022 World Cup. Ronaldo, 37, criticised the club in an explosive interview after seemingly falling out of favour under manager Erik ten Hag. United midfielder Christian Eriksen has reflected on Ronaldo's exit and his "legacy" at the club, as well as Marcus Rashford's form.
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Christian Eriksen believes Manchester United are already moving on from the "sad" departure of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo had his contract terminated during the 2022 World Cup after an explosive interview in which he criticised the club and said he had "no respect" for manager Erik ten Hag.
Ronaldo’s final game was a 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa in early November. United have won their last four matches since then, including a 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest on their post-World Cup return this week.
Speaking after the win, Eriksen said Ronaldo will still have a "special legacy" at United, having scored 145 goals in 346 appearances across two spells.
“First of all we are sad that Ronaldo is not part of it, his legacy and his name at any club is special, for me to be fortunate to play with him in my career was very nice.
“The football goes on. You feel that the next game after, people will forget what it was like before and now our focus is really like he is not here.
“The atmosphere is good, we have a lot of people coming back from the World Cup, the last guys are coming back and everyone is coming together.
“The atmosphere is good. It helps winning games and also before we went away for the World Cup, we had a few good games and good wins and it makes it easier to come back and start like this.”
Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial were both on the scoresheet in United’s victory over Forest at Old Trafford.
Eriksen praised the performance of Rashford, who also set up Martial’s goal and has looked rejuvenated under Ten Hag this season.
“He played very well, luckily I haven’t been on the pitch where he has played a bad game yet,” said Eriksen.
“I let him continue that, he is looking sharp and confident and you can feel that when he is going forward.
“You feel that in the stadium and you feel that with him and it is a nice thing and I hope he keeps it going.
“You can see that he came back pretty confident. I didn’t see as much of his games of course, you guys will have seen more, but he came back in good shape and luckily he has taken that into United.”
Manchester United are now fifth in the Premier League, just one point behind fourth-placed Tottenham with a game in hand.
They next travel to Wolves on New Year’s Day hoping to record a fifth-straight win in all competitions for the first time since April 2021.
Ronaldo's move to Saudi Arabia giants Al-Nassr looks to have taken a step closer with the club reportedly having booked a medical for the 37-year-old.
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