Football Live Update: As Cristiano Ronaldo prepares to return from injury against Tottenham on Saturday, Ralf Rangnick reveals he has no idea if he is happy at Manchester United. Ronaldo was forced to sit out United’s humiliating 4-1 loss to Manchester City last weekend due to a hip injury. The 37-year-old is said to have flown home to Portugal rather than stay in Manchester to support his club in the derby, reigniting speculation that he is unhappy at Old Trafford. After being dropped or substituted at various times, the former Juventus striker has displayed symptoms of discontent in the first season of his second term with United.
When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was ousted in November, he was said to be underwhelmed by United’s decision to engage Rangnick as an interim manager rather than choose a permanent successor.
“Well, I don’t know — I haven’t asked him if he’s happy at Manchester and at this club,” Rangnick said to reporters on Friday when asked if his star player was unhappy.
“For me, it’s important that he’s fit again and that he resumed training yesterday (Thursday). We will see with which formation and with which line-up we are going to play the game tomorrow.”
Ronaldo has 15 goals in all competitions for United this season, but he has only scored once in his last ten games, and Rangnick’s club has dropped to fifth position in the Premier League.
Rangnick refused to reveal if Ronaldo had visited Portugal, saying: “It’s pointless to reflect on the events of the previous six or seven days.
“What matters to me is what happens today and tomorrow. It makes no sense to me to go through this all over again.
“What matters is that he and Edi (Cavani) are both back in training and ready to go for tomorrow.”
Rangnick has also had trouble getting the best out of Marcus Rashford, who has only scored five goals this season and has fallen behind Anthony Elanga in the United pecking order.
The German urged the England midfielder, who came off the bench against City due to the absences of Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani, to reproduce his training-ground form in games.
“Marcus is training well, he’s got abundant talent, he’s got almost everything that you need as a modern striker,” he said.
“For him it’s only about transforming the performance of the training sessions into the regular games.”
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