Paul Scholes, a former player for Manchester United, thinks that by starting forward Cristiano Ronaldo in the Red Devils' Europa League match against Omonia Nicosia on Thursday in Cyprus, manager Erik ten Hag has once again disrespected Ronaldo.

Following Sunday's 6-3 loss to Manchester City in the Premier League derby, Ronaldo was one of three changes to the starting lineup. Ronaldo previously scored the second goal in Man United's 2-0 Europa League victory over Sheriff Tiraspol.

Together with Casemiro and Victor Lindelof, the Portugal captain was added back to the squad.

Even though Ronaldo saw Man United trail Pep Guardiola's team 4-0 at the half at the Etihad Stadium, Ten Hag did not use him this past weekend.

Ten Hag chose to ignore the five-time Ballon d'Or winner even though he used all five of his permitted substitutions.

And Scholes thinks that by starting Ronaldo against Omonia, Ten Hag has disrespected Ronaldo even more.

“I think it is almost more disrespectful to play him on a Thursday night in the Europa League,” Scholes told BT Sport. “This man is a world superstar.

“I am not saying at 37 years of age, he should be starting the games, the big games especially, but this is a competition that is hard to get yourself motivated for. I don’t like saying that, but it’s true when you are a major player at a big club like this.

“He has to change his mentality now, and because he is so strong mentally, it will be to score two goals and get himself in the team for the weekend [at Everton].”