Fred admits he was 'SURPRISED' Ronaldo walked out of Old Trafford

Manchester United's Fred said he was 'surprised' by Cristiano Ronaldo's early exit from their recent match against Tottenham Hotspur, but added the 'important thing' was that the situation had been diffused.

Ronaldo left early from the Spurs game after a dispute with Erik ten Hag by refusing to come on as a substitute, and the Red Devils boss promptly dropped the Portuguese star.

However, the 37-year-old returned to the Man United side to score against FC Sheriff before getting the assist for the only goal as they beat Real Sociedad 1-0 on Thursday.

Fred, 29, has started just four Man United league games this season, and he said such incidents are part of football when players like Ronaldo and himself are determined to play as often as they can.

The midfielder, who joined United in 2018, told Brazil's TNT Sports that he didn't see Ronaldo walk down the tunnel before full-time in the Spurs match, in which Fred scored one of the goals in Man United's 2-0 win.

He said: 'I was on the pitch there. You end up getting focused, you don’t even see it. Turned out I saw it later on the news. I was even surprised when I saw it, but it happens.'

The Brazilian midfielder continued: 'It’s hard. Everyone deals in some way. It’s obvious that everyone wants to be on the pitch, they want to play to help the team. So when you end up not playing, you get frustrated.

'This is normal, it has happened to him, it has happened to me, to someone else. I think that’s part of football.'

Fred finished off by noting: 'I think it stayed there, we talked there, they had their conversation, he and Erik ten Hag. The important thing is that everything is ok.

'He scored again too, which is important, I hope he can keep scoring and have a great season at United.'

Manchester United's remaining fixtures before the international break are league and cup matches against Aston Villa, before a visit to Fulham.