Christian Eriksen said he was “sad” that Cristiano Ronaldo is no longer at Manchester United, but insisted the club can go on without one of the biggest names in their history. “We’re sorry Ronaldo isn’t part of it,” Eriksen said after United’s 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Tuesday, their first game since the Portuguese star’s controversial departure. “His legacy and his name at any club is special. It was really nice to have the good fortune to play with him in my career.”
Ronaldo’s second period of rollercoaster at Old Trafford came to an end during the World Cup break after an explosive interview in which he took aim at new manager Erik ten Hag and the club’s owners.
On the field, his influence had been waning since the Dutch coach took charge at the start of the season. And there was no point in him being missed on Tuesday, as goals from the on-form Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Fred saw United beat Forest to close out the top four.
“Football continues,” said Eriksen. “You feel that the next game after that, people will forget how it used to be and now our focus is really like he (Ronaldo) isn’t there.”
The Danish midfielder added: “The atmosphere is good, we have a lot of people coming back from the World Cup, the last guys are coming back and everyone is coming together.”
Rashford has now scored eight goals in 13 appearances for club and country, and Eriksen is pleased the 25-year-old has maintained the form he showed for England at the World Cup.
“He played really well. Luckily I haven’t been on the pitch where he’s had a bad game yet,” said Eriksen, with the Red Devils now just one point from a Champions League spot and a game in hand over the fourth place. Tottenham Hotspur. “He looks sharp and confident and you can feel it as he moves forward.
“You feel that in the stadium and you feel that with him. It’s beautiful and I hope he keeps it up.”
“You can see he came back quite confident. Obviously I didn’t see many of his games, but he came back well and luckily he brought that to United.”
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