Decidedly, the return of Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United is not easy. Last week, the Portuguese put a lot of pressure on his leaders and his teammates. In an interview for Sky, he felt that he had not returned to England to play 6th or 7th. Internally, we even mention the fact that the Portuguese would like to leave the club if he is not qualified in C1.
With that goal in mind, the Red Devils won 1-3 at Brentford on Wednesday. A good victory which brings them closer to two points behind West-Ham (which has one more game) current fourth. But that’s not what the media will retain of this meeting.
In the 71st minute, CR7 was released by Ralf Rangnick. A decision that did not please the five-time Ballon d’Or winner at all, which clearly showed his annoyance. Depressed on the sidelines, the Portuguese had the face of the small days. After the meeting, the German coach wanted to explain his choice. While wanting to defuse the bomb: “It’s normal, an attacker always wants to score goals”, he started at the microphones of BT Sport. “He was coming back from a minor injury. And we also have a very important match in three days (against West Ham, direct competitor for the C1).
Ralf Rangnick especially wanted to remind that this change had been made for the good of the team. “After what happened at Villa Park (United were leading 0-2 before being overtaken), we absolutely had to defend our lead. It was important to get back to a five-man defence. Even if we weren’t failed to achieve a clean sheet, it was important to have our backs.”
The former RedBull group thought leader believes that later on the Madeira native will understand. “Of course, I understand that Cristiano is ambitious. But maybe one day, if he becomes manager, he will make the same decision after 75 minutes.”
In a press conference, Rangnick even explained the words that the two men exchanged. “He asked me, ‘Why me? Why take me away?’ I didn’t expect him to hug me because he wasn’t happy. But I know how players who want to score goals react. I have no problem with Ronaldo. I repeat: he was coming back from an injury and he hadn’t played for 10 days. Rashford and Martial were on the bench. So why not use them? I’ll take the same decision again.” he explained.
It was enough to excite the English media. Quickly, the Sun took hold of the story and explained that the Portuguese clan wants to leave the club at the end of the year. Nothing to alarm Rangnick. “I’ve been here for six weeks now and I’ve never had a problem with Cristiano”, he hammered again. “Before the Villa game we talked and we agreed not to take him back because of his injury. He was available against Brentford and he started the game. The most important thing is to win games. And that is what we did today”, he concluded.
