Manchester United interim head coach Ralf Rangnick has said that too much is being made of Cristiano Ronaldo's reaction to being substituted against Brentford on Wednesday night.
Ronaldo returned from a hip problem against the Bees but was withdrawn in the 71st minute, with the Red Devils leading 2-0 against Thomas Frank's side.
The Portugal international showed his frustration on the bench at being substituted and asked Rangnick why he had made the decision to withdraw him.
The German has insisted that he stands by the substitution, with Marcus Rashford, who replaced Ronaldo, scoring Man United's third of the match to all but end Brentford's chances of a comeback.
"Well, I think we shouldn't make too much of a fuss out of it. I can only speak for myself and my coaching staff. I explained that to him during the game, we had a little conversation after we score the third goal. In fact, I told him the same as what I said in our press conference," Rangnick told reporters.
"The job of a football manager is to help the team win the game and it was clear from our 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 he's a player that will always want to play and score goals. He was also asking why me 'why didn't you take off one of the younger players?'.
"The answer came five minutes later when one of the younger players scored the third goal. Maybe Cristiano could have also scored the third goal but football is not about maybe, it is about taking a decision in the right moment."
Ronaldo has scored 14 times and registered three assists in 22 appearances for Man United during the 2021-22 campaign, including eight goals in 17 Premier League outings.
Matt Law
