Breaking news: Ralf Ragnick sends special apology to cristiano Ronaldo after substituting him off yesterday.

 

Cristiano Ronaldo threw a strop after 

being subbed at Brentford and Ralf Rangnick 

warned he would happily haul him off again

 in the future but insisted he has no problem

 with the Portuguese superstar.

Ronaldo was fuming when he was replaced

 by Harry Maguire in the 71st minute with

 United 2-0 up and Rangnick keen to 

switch to a back three to protect his

 side’s lead.

Ronaldo trudged off muttering to himself,

 threw his jacket to the ground in frustration

 as he sat down on the bench and was later 

seen questioning the decision to withdraw

 him.

Rangnick had the last word though turning

 to Ronaldo after Marcus Rashford, who 

came on along with Maguire, then scored

 United’s third.

Rangnick said: ‘He was asking me “why 

me, why do you take me off?” Cristiano

 was not happy.

‘I said “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, 2-0 up with 

15 minutes to play [and drew] and we didn’t

 want to make the same mistake. I decided 

to switch to a back five, bring on [Harry] 

Maguire and Marcus [Rashford] as another

 fast winger and I think it was the right

 decision.

‘I said “I understand you’re still 

ambitious and you want to score yourself

 but maybe in a couple of years when 

you’re a head coach you will hopefully take

 the same decision and be in the same role

 that I was after 75 minutes.”

‘I didn’t expect him to hug me. He is a 

goal-scorer and he would have wished 

to stay on and maybe score but it was 

more important to be compact and have

 enough legs and strong headers to defend

 their set pieces and when we scored 

the third goal I said exactly that to him.

‘I have no issues whatsoever with 

Cristiano. He came back from a little injury,

 didn’t train for one and half weeks and

 being 2-0 up with 15 minutes to play,

 having players like Marcus, 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.’

United were indebted to David de Gea 

for keeping them in the game in the first

 half before Anthony Elanga, Mason 

Greenwood and Rashford struck clinically 

after the break to earn a victory that moved

 Rangnick’s men to within two points 

of fourth-placed West Ham.

Ivan Toney pulled a late goal back for 

Brentford, who have now lost five of their

 last six but remain 10 points above the

 bottom three.

Brentford Manager Thomas Frank 

said: ‘We are the smallest club in the 

Premier League, Manchester United the

 biggest. We destroyed them in the first 

half, they didn't have a sniff. It’s a miracle

 they weren’t 2-0 down. De Gea was 

by far the best United player. They 

are unbelievably lucky. The way we 

smashed them in the first half was fantastic

. So proud of my team.

‘There should only be one winner 

and that was us. The most they 

deserved was a draw.’