International Players

Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench: All the matches and their results

By Adedamola Samuel

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer put Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench against Everton. United drew the match 1-1.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer put Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench against Everton. United drew the match 1-1.

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Cristiano Ronaldo is arguably the best player in the world and he has proven this time and time again. In all of the clubs he has played at, Ronaldo is often the talisman, holding the position of the most important player. This means that the 5-time Ballon d'Or winner is not accustomed to being on the substitutes bench at the start of any match. One could count how many times Cristiano Ronaldo has had to sit on the bench. One of those times was during Manchester United's league match against Everton.


   Cristiano Ronaldo scored a 94th minute winner against Villareal

Why Ole Gunnar Solskjaer benched Cristiano Ronaldo

On Saturday, Manchester United hosted Everton at Old Trafford for their Matchday 7 fixture of the league season. A victory would have seen Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his team climb to the top of the EPL table that Sunday. However, Solskjaer chose to field a different squad from the one that won against Villareal just a few days before that. More crucially, the Norwegian coach left out Cristiano Ronaldo from his starting XI. 

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had started Bruno Fernandes, Mason Greenwood, Anthony Martial and Edinson as his preferred attacking quartet for the visit of the Toffees. The manager noted after the match ended in a 1-1 draw that he chose to put Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench because of the need to manage every player's workload and allowing others to play in the team.

How many times has Cristiano Ronaldo been benched? 

Since 2015, Cristiano Ronaldo has only been benched 7 times across his spells with Real Madrid, Juventus and now Manchester United. At Real Madrid, Ronaldo was benched during the 2017/18 UEFA Super Cup and Spanish Super Cup. On both occasions, Real Madrid won. Edging Manchester United 2-1 in the UEFA Super Cup and defeating Barcelona 3-1 in the Spanish Super Cup.


   Cristiano Ronaldo started on the bench on 8 occasions while he was at Juventus

At Juventus, Cristiano Ronaldo started more matches from the bench than he is accustomed to. He made a total of 8 substitutes appearances for the Bianconeri, 6 times in the Serie A and twice in the Copa Italia. On the 8 occasions that Ronaldo was on the bench, Juventus won 6 and drawn only 2, never suffering any loss. Both draws ended 2 goals apiece against Atalanta and Udinese.

 


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