'Out of respect': Erik Ten Hag's shocking admission on why he didn't play Cristiano Ronaldo against Man City

Manchester United suffered a humiliating 6-3 defeat at the hands of arch-rivals Manchester City in the first Manchester Derby in the Premier League on Sunday. United were completely demolished by Pep Guardiola's side as Erling Haaland and Phil Foden bagged a hat-trick apiece to extend their unbeaten streak in the Premier League this season.

It was a nightmarish start for United as Foden opened the scoring for City in the 8th minute before Haaland scored twice inside four minutes to make it 3-0. Foden piled more misery on their city rivals with another goal in the 44th minute to ensure the reigning Premier League champions had the game in their bag by halftime.

In the second half, Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag went on to make a number of chances as the likes of Fred, Casemiro, Anthony Martial, Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw all came on from the bench. However, Cristiano Ronaldo remained an unused substitute on the bench for United despite them going 4-0 down at the end of the first half.

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When asked about his decision to not bring Ronaldo as a substitute in the second half, Ten Hag said it was 'out of respect' for the Portuguese forward's big career. Ten Hag admitted he didn't want Ronaldo to be subjected to humiliation at the hands of City.

"I wouldn't bring him in out of respect for Cristiano, for his big career," Ten Hag said after the game.

"The other thing was the advantage that I could bring on Anthony Martial. He needs the minutes, but I don't want to point it out like that," he added.

Ronaldo, who wanted to leave Manchester United in the summer transfer window earlier this year, had to remain at the club as no top team came in for him. He has had a sluggish start to the season and has managed only one start for United in the Premier League so far this season.

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United did manage to score three goals in the second half but it wasn't enough as City scored two more to make 6-3. Ten Hag said his side lacked belief in the game and the performance was unacceptable. The Man Utd manager insisted he couldn't think of any positives to take from the game.

"It's quite simple, it's a lack of belief. When you don't believe on the pitch, then you can't win games; that is unacceptable. We get undisciplined at following rules and you get hammered, that's happened today," said Ten Hag.

"All the credit to City, but it's nothing to do with City, our performance was not good. It had to do with the belief as individuals and as a team.

"From the first minute I felt it, and at half-time, we changed things and we changed attitude. In this moment I can't think about positives. We let our fans down, we let ourselves down and we're hugely disappointed," he added.