Cristiano Ronaldo was visibly furious with Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick after the superstar was subbed off during Wednesday’s win at Brentford.
Time Up! Ronaldo was subbed by Ralf Rangnick
Ronaldo was taken off by interim manager Ralf Rangnick in the 71 minutes of the match, with United leading 2-0 thanks to goals from Anthony Elanga and Mason Greenwood.
The five-times Ballon d’or winner was replaced by Harry Maguire and the Portugal international was clearly not happy with the substitution.
Ronaldo clearly not happy with the decision to sub him.
Speaking to the media after the game, Rangnick confirmed Ronaldo’s comments.
“He [Ronaldo] said ‘Why me, why did you take me off?’,” Rangnick revealed.
Ronaldo was spotted muttering to those in front of him and next to him on the bench, clearly unhappy with the decision
“I said I had to take the decision for the team, for the club. Maybe in a few years when he is a coach he will understand.”
However, The United boss was quick to defend the Ronaldo’s tantrum. Speaking to BT Sport, he said:
‘I didn’t expect him to hug me. He is a goal-scorer and he would have wished to stay on and maybe score but it was more important to be compact and have enough legs and strong headers to defend their set pieces and when we scored the third goal I said exactly that to him.
Rangnick caught on camera talking to Ronaldo.
‘I have no issues whatsoever with Cristiano. He came back from a little injury, didn’t train for one and half weeks and being 2-0 up with 15 minutes to play, having players like Marcus, Anthony Martial why should I not make use of that and that’s why I would always do it again in a situation like that.’
Rangnick on replacing Ronaldo with Maguire and not another striker – Martial
“Also after what happened at Villa Park, we had to defend the lead this time and it was important that we went back to a back five and while we didn’t keep the clean sheet it was important to make sure nothing else happened.”
United were indebted to David de Gea for keeping them in the game in the first half before Anthony Elanga, Mason Greenwood and Rashford struck clinically before Ivan Toney pulled a late goal back for Brentford.
The opposition manager Thomas Frank was also in full praises of the Spain goalkeeper.
“We destroyed them in the first half, they didn’t have a sniff. It’s a miracle they weren’t 2-0 down. De Gea was by far the best United player.” He said.
The victory moved Rangnick’s men to within two points of fourth-placed West Ham.