Copyright manchestereveningnews
Cristiano Ronaldo once underlined his desperation to play every minute possible by reacting angrily to being taken off at Brentford. A few months into his fractious second spell at Manchester United , Ronaldo had already seen a change of manager, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer being sacked and replaced by Ralf Rangnick on an interim basis. In January 2022, with United 2-0 up at Brentford, the club icon was replaced by Marcus Rashford on 71 minutes. Ronaldo didn’t take the decision well, looking angry as he came off and appearing to complain to his manager. But Rangnick had no qualms with Ronaldo’s frustration, insisting he was happy to discuss the decision with the player. The German coach joked: “I didn't expect him to hug me after being substituted.” He explained: “He was asking why me, ‘Why do you take me off?’ I said, ‘Listen, I have to take the decision in the interest of the team and the club. We had exactly the same situation five days ago at Villa Park, being 2-0 up with 15 minutes to play [Villa came back to draw 2-2], and we didn’t want to make the same mistake again.’ “I decided to switch to a back five with Harry Maguire and bring on Marcus as another fast winger on the right-hand side, and I think it was the right decision. “Cristiano was not happy. He’s a goalscorer, he wished to stay on and maybe score himself. But, for us, it was more important to be compact.” Rangnick’s decision was justified as Rashford scored the game-clinching third goal before Brentford grabbed a consolation. He reacted to that goal by giving Ronaldo some advice, adding: “When we scored the third, I said exactly that to him. I said, ‘Look, Cristiano, I understand you’re still ambitious and want to score yourself. Maybe in a couple of years, when you’re a head coach yourself, you will hopefully take the same decision and be in the same role I was today after 75 minutes.’ Rangnick went on to stress there were no problems between him and his most famous player, saying: “I have no issues whatsoever with Cristiano but again. “He came back from a little injury, he didn't train for one-and-a-half weeks, and being 2-0 up with 15 minutes to play, having players like Marcus on the bench and even 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. I’ve been here now for six weeks, I’ve never had any kind of issue with Cristiano.” Their working relationship was brief as Rangnick left the club by mutual consent the following March. Ronaldo, who is still playing for Al-Nassr at the age of 40, followed him out the door later that year after his infamous interview with Piers Morgan. United visit Brentford in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off, hoping to improve on their poor recent record at the Gtech Community Stadium. United have lost two of their last three visits, drawing the other. Their last victory there was the aforementioned match involving Ronaldo. Here at the Manchester Evening News, we’re dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester United coverage and analysis. Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest United news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe. You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day’s biggest stories. And finally, if you’d rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Manchester is Red podcast. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts , and you can also watch along on YouTube .
