Manchester United was humiliated by their crosstown rivals on Sunday, suffering a 6-3 defeat at the hands of Manchester City that didn't for a moment seem as if they had a chance at keeping things close. Cristiano Ronaldo was an unused substitute in the Manchester derby, and Ten Hag spoke on why the Portuguese superstar didn't sniff the pitch in the aftermath of the game. Via Fabrizio Romano, Ten Hag bizarrely claimed that he had too much respect for Ronaldo's career to sub him on during such a lopsided affair.

Instead of bringing Ronaldo on as a second-half substitute, Ten Hag opted to bring on Anthony Martial. It's hard to fault him for that decision, as the Frenchman scored a pair of goals to make a 6-1 deficit into a 6-3. Still, there were many left wondering why Ronaldo was left to rot on the bench.

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“I couldn't bring him in because out of respect for Cristiano, his big career,” said Ten Hag. “Other thing was the advantage I could bring Martial, he needs the minutes but I don't want to point it out like that.”

The comments were certainly a bit odd from the Dutch manager. He declared that he had too much respect for Ronaldo's career to bring him in the game, instead forcing the 37-year-old to watch helplessly from the sidelines. He then claimed he didn't want to publicly state that Martial needed more minutes, before doing exactly that in his explanation for subbing on Martial.

Regardless, Manchester United fans will be fuming over the loss to Man City, and the Ronaldo saga continues to worsen following his continued benching and the odd comments from Ten Hag as Manchester United suffered their third defeat of the young season.