Cristiano Ronaldo 'ABANDONED his own team' after refusing to play for Man United, says Troy Deeney

Troy Deeney has accused Cristiano Ronaldo of 'abandoning' his Man United team-mates after refusal to come on for Manchester United in their win against Tottenham this week.

Ronaldo found himself facing huge criticism after storming out of Old Trafford just before the final whistle was blown on Wednesday night, with the team about to secure an impressive 2-0 victory over Antonio Conte's men.

But it was the Portugal captain who stole the spotlight as he trudged off the pitch just before full time - with boss Erik ten Hag later revealing he had refused to be introduced as a substitute.

Deeney - who captain Watford and now plays for Birmingham - let rip at Ronaldo for his conduct and believes his team-mates will have now lost respect for him.

Speaking to The Sun, he said: 'I don’t see a way back from that.

'From a player’s perspective, I don’t know what you expect anyone to say or even remotely respect you for. It is mental.

'Ronaldo will have lost the respect of the entire squad and staff. You’ve abandoned your own team. You have essentially quit on them.

'It is the worst thing you can do, especially as a senior player.

'He is basically saying: "I’m better than all of you". He feels he should have been starting against Spurs so he didn’t have to come on later in the game.

'Whether he actually thinks that, we don’t know, but you can’t refuse to come on after your manager has asked you to. It will be a really difficult one for the squad to deal with.'

Deeney feels his behaviour has spelled the end of his second spell at Man United and predicts that Ten Hag will now begin the process of phasing him out of the club

'Ultimately, that is him done now at Manchester United under Ten Hag, and they will have to look to move him on in January.

'They probably should have done it in August. Now, it is a case of just getting him out the building, especially if he is training away from the first-team squad.'

Ronaldo has been left out of United's squad to travel to Chelsea this weekend after Ten Hag vowed to 'deal' with him.

Deeney isn't the only figure in football to blast Ronaldo. Micah Richards called him 'unprofessional', while Gabby Agbonlahor described him as a 'spoilt brat' and Dion Dublin said he would have grabbed him round the throat if he was his team-mate.