‘I’d do it again’ — Ralf Rangnick reveals what he told Ronaldo after his act against Brentford
Ralf Rangnick has insisted he has no issues with Cristiano Ronaldo, following the reaction of the forward during the 3-1 win against Brentford on Wednesday.
Ronaldo was taken off with Man United 2-0 up, and with 19 minutes to go, as Rangnick attempted to see out the win.
The Portugese was however not pleased with the move, and didn’t hide it, as he was spotted making a remark to the coach, before throwing his jacket to the ground.
Eyebrows have been raised over the incident, with speculations arising over Rangnick’s control over his players, but the German insists his decision was purely tactical, and claims he’d also do it again.
Speaking about the incident after the game, Rangnick said: “The only reaction I got was him asking me, ‘why me, why did you take me off?’. I said to him, ‘listen, I have to take the decision in the interests of the team and the club’.
“We had exactly the same situation five days ago at Villa Park. Being 2-0 up, 15 minutes to play. Of course, 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 side. I think it was the right decision.
“But Cristiano was not happy. He’s a goalscorer, he would’ve wished to stay on and score a goal himself. But for us it was more important to be compact, to make sure we have enough legs and enough strong headers to defend their free kicks and set pieces.
“When we scored the third goal I said exactly that to him. I said, ‘look, Cristiano, I understand that you are still ambitious and you want to score yourself. Maybe in a couple of years when you are a head coach yourself and hopefully you’ll take the same decision, be in the same role that I was in today after 75 minutes’.
“As I said, what I realised was exactly what happened. I didn’t expect him to hug me after being substituted. I know how goalscoring players think and how they tick but I have to take my decisions in the interest of the team and the club. This is exactly what I told him.
“I have no issues with Cristiano. He’s come back from a little injury, he didn’t train for one-and-a-half weeks, being 2-0 up with 15 minutes to play, having players like Marcus and Anthony Martial on the bench, why should I not make use of that? That’s why I would always do it again in a situation like that.
“I’ve been here now for six weeks I’ve not had any kind of issue with Cristiano. We spoke before the Villa FA Cup game and before the league game he told me he had a little issue with his hip flexor and we agreed between the two of us it would be better to make sure he has no problems with that kind of injury any more, that’s why he was not part of the squad in those two games.
“Today he was available again, that’s why I played him from the start. No issues whatsoever. For the future, it’s just important for any player that we win games, this is first.”