Samuel

The worst line you can have on your CV as a manager is: I could not work with Cristiano Ronaldo. Look at the list and tell me I'm lying: Rafa Benitez - Came to Real Madrid, said Ronaldo is not his main man, wanted to build around Bale. Wanted Ronaldo to play different. What happened? Sacked in 7 months. Never coached a top elite club again. Newcastle, Everton, Celta. Finished. Maurizio Sarri - Juventus. Said he had a problem because Ronaldo's presence affected Dybala. Tried to bench him, sub him. Won the league and STILL got sacked. Never seen again at the top. Ralf Rangnick - Interim fraud. Came to Man United talking about pressing professor. Benched Ronaldo, humiliated him. Lost the dressing room. United finished 6th. Now managing Austria. No top club will touch him. Rudi Garcia - Al Nassr. Benched Ronaldo, said he does not fit his system. Sacked 3 months later. Now where? Napoli disaster, sacked again. Fernando Santos - Portugal. Benched Ronaldo at the World Cup for Goncalo Ramos because of tactics. Lost to Morocco. Sacked. Now managing Azerbaijan. From European Champions to Azerbaijan. Erik ten Hag - The biggest example. Had Ronaldo who scored 24 goals the season before. Said he does not fit his attacking dynamic football, wanted Wout Weghorst who scored 2 goals. Fought him, disrespected him, terminated his contract. Result? 8th position, 58 goals conceded, sacked, now hiding in Germany. Every manager who thought he was bigger than Ronaldo, every manager who said Ronaldo doesn't suit ME - their career died immediately after. Coincidence? No. It's a curse. Ronaldo is not a player you manage. He is a system you embrace. Ancelotti embraced him, won 3 UCLs. Zidane embraced him, won 3 UCLs in a row. Ferguson embraced him, won everything. The ones who couldn't work with him exposed themselves. They are not elite managers. They are system managers with no system. If you can't work with the most hardworking, most professional, most clutch player in history who just wants to win, the problem is not Ronaldo. The problem is YOU.