Former Manchester United defender Patrice Evra has hit back at Graeme Souness after the former Liverpool captain claimed that "no one will remember" Erik ten Hag amid his recent dispute with Cristiano Ronaldo.
After refusing to come on as a last-minute substitute during the 2-0 win over Tottenham last month, Ronaldo stormed down the Old Trafford tunnel before full-time. Ten Hag then made the decision to drop the United man from the Chelsea squad the following week, as a punishment for his actions.
The dust has somewhat settled since then, as Ronaldo played a full 90 minutes during the 1-0 win over West Ham on Sunday. With the 37-year-old seemingly set for successive starts against Real Sociedad on Thursday night, it appears that the incident may well truly be in the past.
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However, Evra has now defended Ten Hag following comments made by Souness in the aftermath of the incident.
Speaking to talkSPORT, the former Liverpool man had said: "In five years' time, Ten Hag will be away from United, and no one will talk about him at Man United. I would have ironed it out with Ronaldo on day 1.
"I personally would use him very differently, I still think he’s got something to offer. In five years' time, no one will remember Ten Hag. Ronaldo will be remembered as arguably the greatest player who has ever kicked a football."
But Evra has now stood up for the United manager while offering a glimpse into why Ronaldo has been so frustrated, as he told the PA news agency from the Web Summit in Lisbon: "I know Graeme Souness says people will remember Ronaldo and won’t remember Ten Hag. Maybe they will remember Ten Hag because he will have a career like (Sir Alex) Ferguson, but it is difficult and I don’t think Cristiano is doing all this because of his legacy.
"He doesn’t care about his legacy. Cristiano cares about scoring goals and being the best scorer in the Champions League because that is his goal from before the season started."
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