2015-2021: How many times has Cristiano Ronaldo started on the bench since turning 30?

Cristiano Ronaldo started on the bench against Everton as Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw by the Toffees at the Old Trafford on Saturday. 

Anthony Martial handed the home side the lead at the stroke of halftime which was cancelled out by Andros Townsend in the second half. The Portuguese star was introduced into the match in the 57th minute when he replaced Edinson Cavani.

This was the first time since joining Manchester United in the summer of the 2021/22 season, that Ronaldo did not feature in the starting lineup of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Before joining the Red Devils, Ronaldo had featured in one Serie A clash for Juventus where he also came on as a substitution.

It’s not a common phenomenon that a player of Ronaldo’s calibre is not kept in the starting lineup despite him being fit and featuring in the matchday squad. In fact, such occurrences have been rare in the superstar’s career even after he turned 30 in 2015.

Since turning 30, Ronaldo has started on the bench on only 11 occasions in the last six seasons out of 273 matches he has featured in. In the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons, Ronaldo started in all the 48 and 44 matches respectively he played in those campaigns.

Here, we take a look at the number of times the Portuguese attacker has started on the bench since turning 30 on February 5, 2015.

How many times has Cristiano Ronaldo started on the bench since turning 30?

What were the results in the matches where Ronaldo started on the bench?