Manchester United’s Ralf Rangnick Unconcerned By Cristiano Ronaldo’s Anger

Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick has defended his decision to substitute Cristiano Ronaldo during his side’s 3-1 win over Brentford on Wednesday night.

The United striker reacted angrily to be withdrawn after 70 minutes at the Brentford Community stadium, and showed his displeasure by muttering some words, throwing his tracksuit top to the ground and sitting on a step instead of taking a seat.

His behaviour has since became a major source of debate, with some branding it as unprofessional and a distraction to United, but Rangnick has made it known he is unconcerned, and accepts it as a perfectly normal part of the game.

“I think we shouldn't make too much of a fuss out of it,” the German manager said at his press conference on Friday. “I can only speak for myself and my coaching staff. I explained that to him, even during the game when we had that little conversation after we scored the third goal.”

“In fact, I told him the same as what I just said in our press conference [after the game]. The job of a football manager is to help teams win games.”

Rangnick’s decision was influenced by his failure to make a similar change against Aston Villa last weekend when United were winning 2-0, but ended up drawing 2-2.

The United manager resisted an urge to change to a back five when he held a two goal lead against Villa, and regretted it as he watched his side concede two late goals.  

“For me it was clear after the experience at Villa Park that this time we have to do things better. We did it better and the only question was who do we take off?”

“Of course, Cristiano is a prolific goalscorer and as a player will always want to play and score goals. He was also asking “Why me? Why not take off one of the younger players?” The answer to that came five minutes later when one of the younger players scored the third goal.”

“Maybe Cristiano could have also scored that third but football is not always about maybe. It's about taking the decision in the right moment. We were 2-0 up and Cristiano gave the assist for the second goal, when he chested the ball to Bruno. It was tactically one of the best situations in the game, that our central striker came towards the ball and at the same time, Bruno as one of our eights was sprinting vertical. This was the reason why we were able to create a tap-in goal for Mason.”

“This wasn’t the first time he has been substituted, I believe. It even happened under Sir Alex. That a player like Cristiano doesn't like to be substituted, for me, is pretty normal. His reaction was emotional, but for me this is not a problem at all.”

“I've been managing other players, maybe not with quite as big a name as Cristiano but I also had players like Krasimir Balakov, like a young Klaas Huntelaar, or Raul at Schalke, and Ebbe Sand. So I know how offensive players behave and react to this sort of substitution but again it's about our team, it’s about getting points.”

“We are in a position where every single game is of great importance to make sure we get the maximum amount of points out of it. This is the most important part. The team is more important than… it doesn’t matter who it is, whether it’s Cristiano, Edinson or Bruno, any other player.”