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Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo is truly a world star and a legendary footballer by every metric. The Portuguese superstar has scored for fun all throughout his career and has etched his name into the folklore of every team he has represented.
Ronaldo boasts five Champions League trophies and league winner’s medals in England, Spain and Italy, making him one of the most successful players ever. Consistent success at such a high level can only be achieved with high-quality teammates and management working in unison with the superb forward.
Ronaldo has played under some of the greatest managers in the game, enjoying a close relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson, one of the greatest managers of all time. The Portuguese superstar has also played under visionaries such as Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane.
However, Ronaldo has not always been as fortunate in his management. The Portuguese ace has also endured some rather below-par managers in his time. In this article we list the five worst managers to coach Cristiano Ronaldo:
#5 Rafa Benitez | coached Ronaldo at Real Madrid
The former Liverpool manager should probably never have taken the reins at the Santiago Bernabeu. In fairness, Rafa Benitez prospered years earlier, having found La Liga success with Valencia, but Real Madrid's appointment couldn't have come at a worse time.
Right before he joined Los Blancos in 2013, Benitez had performed poorly with Napoli, finishing a poor Serie A campaign outside the Champions League slots. What was the chance he would do better at Madrid?
Benitez's relationship with the Madridistas quickly soured, and so did his relationship with the club's marksman Cristiano Ronaldo. The duo were clearly not on the best of terms and within months, Ronaldo had reportedly threatened to leave the club. The final straw came with a 4-0 El Clasico loss to Barcelona, and seven months after his appointment, Benitez was sacked.
#4 Paulo Bento | coached Ronaldo with Portugal
After a shock 1-0 loss to Albania in 2014, Paulo Bento's four-year tenure as the head coach of the Portugal national team came to an abrupt end. The current South Korea manager enjoyed a start to his career at the helm of A Selecao, but he couldn't maintain the good performances to secure his position. The 2012 Euro games went well for Portugal as the team got to the semifinals. However, their abysmal entrance into the 2014 World Cup could hardly be ignored.
Although Cristiano Ronaldo flourished and found goals under Bento's management, inability to minimize conceded goals ensured failure for the team. Portugal struggled to qualify for the World Cup, eventually having to beat Sweden to pull through. It didn't matter much as Selecao faltered badly, ultimately getting eliminated in the group stages. Although Bento remained as coach, the loss to Albania was a little too much for the country's FA.
#3 Maurizio Sarri | coached Ronaldo at Juventus
It didn't matter to the Bianconeri that Maurizio Sarri had handed the club their ninth successive Scudetto. The former Chelsea manager was fired two weeks after Juventus joyfully carried the trophy that signified their dominance in Italy. However, the club had been kicked out of the Champions League in dramatic fashion by none other than minnows Olympique Lyonnais. Someone had to take the fall for such a stunning failure, and even a Serie A title wasn't enough to keep Sarri's job.
Sarri's move to Turin hardly sat well with the Juventini faithful, many of whom had little love for the former Napoli manager. His tactics were rather difficult for his aging squad to interpret, and that ensured that Sarri struggled to form a symbiotic relationship with the team. Cristiano Ronaldo may have scored more goals under Sarri than he did under any other coach at Juventus, but it wasn't enough to save the manager's job.
#2 Andrea Pirlo | coached Ronaldo at Juventus
Many pundits have given their best responses as to why Cristiano Ronaldo left Juventus for Manchester United. Whatever the reason, Ronaldo was reportedly disillusioned in Turin, and Juventus didn't mind removing his massive wages from their books. However, Andrea Pirlo is the man who will bear some blame for Ronaldo's reported annoyance and decision to leave the Bianconeri. Juventus notably went from the child-like excitement of introducing a club legend as coach to a sour sack in just one season.
Pirlo lacked the experience to manage the largest club in Italy, having never managed any other club before. Apart from that, too many players in his squad were aging, and the striking partnership between Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata lacked consistency. Ronaldo may have had a great season under Pirlo, in terms of goals, but many players like Paulo Dybala didn't. Finally, Juventus being eliminated by Porto was too much shame for the Bianconeri to bear, and Pirlo's sack became inevitable.
#1 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer | coached Ronaldo at Manchester United
When Ronaldo re-signed for Manchester United last summer, there was so visible excitement about the club's future. The Red Devils had also signed Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho, and it looked like they were set to challenge for the title with "Ole at the wheel". However, it was not to be. By the time Solskjaer was sacked, Manchester United were struggling to find their place in the Premier League's continental spots.
Ronaldo is far from happy at Old Trafford if reports are to be believed, and it's understandable: he didn't join the club to play in the Europa League next season. Although the Portuguese ace scored goals under Solskjaer's management, the rest of the team was in dire straits. They could barely string wins together, and Ronaldo was forced to score late winners to keep the side afloat. What should have been the star's re-emergence as a United legend has, so far, become a sub-par struggle for league table relevance. Solskjaer's sacking was inevitable after torrid displays, including a 5-0 loss to longtime rivals Liverpool.
