Manchester United Midfielder Addresses Cristiano Ronaldo's 'Sad' Exit From Club

Morale at Old Trafford appears to be much higher than compared to the time when Manchester United had Cristiano Ronaldo on the roster, but it does not mean that the players are not missing having him around them.

The club recently played their first English Premier League match without Ronaldo and was able to produce a stunning 3-0 victory against Nottingham Forest thanks to the efforts of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Fred.

Following the match, Manchester United midfielder Christian Eriksen revealed what life has been like without Ronaldo on their side this time around.

"First of all, we are sad that Ronaldo is not part of it, his legacy and his name at any club are special, for me to be fortunate to play with him in my career was very nice. The football goes on. You feel that the next game after, people will forget what it was like before and now our focus is really like he is not here," Eriksen said as quoted by The Athletic.

"The atmosphere is good. It helps winning games and also before we went away for the World Cup, we had a few good games and good wins and it makes it easier to come back and start like this."

Many have wondered how the Red Devils will perform on the field after Ronaldo decided to take aim at the entire club during his tell-all interview with Piers Morgan and who will fill in the void for the remainder of the season.

During the Nottingham Forest match, it seemed as if it will be up to the duo of Rashford and Martial to carry the flag without the Portuguese star.

At the 19th minute, Eriksen connected with England international Rashford off a grounded corner kick inside the box for the opening goal of the match–catching the Nottingham Forest defense by surprise.

Martial joined Rashford on the stats sheet three minutes with a goal of his own, while Brazil's Fred scored at the 87th minute with help from his fellow countryman and seemingly Manchester United's greatest signing so far in Casemiro.

Eriksen had high praise for Rashford specifically after scoring in their two recent fixtures, which includes a 2-0 victory against Burnley in the English League Cup.

"You can see that he came back pretty confident. I didn't see as much of his [World Cup] games, of course, you guys will have seen more, but he came back in good shape and luckily, he has taken that into United," Eriksen noted.

Even while Ronaldo was on the squad, Manchester United had been a relative non-factor on the field as the Erik ten Hag-led side had leaned towards their youth movement.

It seems to be the right decision for the Red Devils as they are now only a point behind Tottenham for fourth in the league standings.