Cristiano Ronaldo and Casemiro send message to teammates about Manchester United standards

Winners in a row This season, Cristiano Ronaldo and Casemiro have mostly played supporting roles for Manchester United.

Ronaldo has only started one Premier League game this season, while Casemiro made his whole top-flight debut on Sunday night. The pair, who will go down in Champions League history, has had to be patient.

Casemiro’s only other two starts have come in the Europa League, with the rest of his time spent on the bench. It’s no wonder, however, that he had a difficult start against Everton, throwing the ball away for Alex Iwobi’s opener and trying to find a footing in the game.

However, on the stroke of half-time, the 30-year-old displayed elite mentality when, after first losing the ball, he retrieved possession and put in Ronaldo for the match-winner, their Real Madrid telepathy working in United’s favor.

Ronaldo also exhibited his tremendous mindset once more. Erik ten Hag benched him in the Manchester derby, and he wasted several chances against Omonia in the Europa League on Thursday.

He was rested in yet another league encounter, but he came off the bench at Goodison Park to clinically finish one of three shots he had throughout the game.

It’s not often that Ronaldo has on-field individual losses in his career, but his reluctance to let his recent disappointments affect his game demonstrated why he’s one of the best players of all time.

Both he and Casemiro have communicated to their teammates what it takes to become an outstanding squad. Too many times last season, United players appeared to be at a loss for ideas when their backs were against the wall, prompting some to accuse them of a lack of effort.

Maintaining the appropriate mindset by not allowing setbacks to detract from performance output is a lesson that all United players can learn if they are to re-emerge as a win-churning machine.