Cristiano Ronaldo's return to Manchester United has certainly not gone as he would have hoped.

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner returned to Old Trafford last summer after three years on Juventus' books and fans were understandably ecstatic about the signing.

Ronaldo was tipped to lead United to glory once again, but that hasn't materialised whatsoever.

From an individual perspective, the Portugal international was pretty darn good in 2021/22. He bagged 24 goals across all competitions, efforts which earned him his 19th Ballon d'Or nomination.

United were dreadful overall last season, though. They failed to qualify for the Champions League and experienced some humiliating defeats, including a 5-0 home loss to Liverpool and a 4-0 hammering at Brighton.

And things haven't gone much better for the Red Devils and Ronaldo in 2022/23.

Last Saturday, Erik ten Hag's side were thrashed 4-0 by Brentford, a match which may very well represent United's lowest point in the Premier League era.

United's worst defeats since Ronaldo's return

The results in the post above really are damning and they make one of Piers Morgan's tweets from 2019 look even more awkward.

When Barcelona were famously beaten 4-0 by Liverpool at Anfield and dumped out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage, Morgan made his feelings very clear on the social media platform.

He wrote: "Barcelona wouldn't have lost that game if @Cristiano had been playing for them. Fact. #GOAT."

It was a clear dig at Lionel Messi, who Morgan labelled as "overrated" in another tweet posted 20 minutes prior.

Hindsight really is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

Of course, Ronaldo is currently playing in a far worse team than Ernesto Valverde's Barcelona, but it's foolish to say that he - or any other footballer in history - would never let their team be battered by an opponent.

Ronaldo and Messi might be the two greatest players the sport has ever seen, but both are still human and can't single-handedly win matches every single time they're required to do so.

It's also worth remembering that Messi was comfortably Barcelona's best performer during their 4-0 humbling at Anfield and was let down by some poor finishing and defending from his teammates.

Video: Messi's highlights from Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona

Sure, it wasn't Messi at the very peak of his powers, but it was still a top-quality display under enormous pressure.

Would Ronaldo really have been able to prevent Liverpool's onslaught that night on Merseyside as Morgan suggested? Almost certainly 'no'.