Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes get crucial boost from Liverpool postponement

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Manchester United’s fixture at Anfield against Liverpool scheduled for March 20, will be postponed.

This comes after Liverpool won their FA Cup fifth round clash against Norwich City with a 2-1 scoreline.

Liverpool will play the FA Cup quarter-finals on the weekend of March 19th/20th, meaning a new date will need to be found for the United fixture.

This rearranged fixture will take place in April or May, and it means Manchester United have only three matches upcoming this month instead of four.

These are the Premier League games against Manchester City (a), Tottenham Hotspur (h), and the Champions League last 16 second leg against Atletico Madrid (h).

What it does do is ease the hectic nature of the schedule a little, temporarily at least, and there are some big winners where United are concerned.

Fernandes and Ronaldo among big winners

The reason Ronaldo and Fernandes are winners from this postponement, is that the cancellation of this fixture gives them the weekend off, the week before the World Cup play-offs start.

Ronaldo and Fernandes were due to play away at Liverpool on March 20, before their World Cup qualifier for Portugal against Turkey on March 24.

Now instead of a quick turnaround, Ronaldo and Fernandes have nine days between matches, a crucial time to prepare for the fixture, which will also aid them with a second qualifier due to be played on March 29 for the winners, likely against Italy.

Other United stars are positively impacted too, including Scott McTominay, who also now gets extra rest prior to Scotland’s World Cup qualifier against Ukraine.

Victor Lindelof and Anthony Elanga likewise will have a little extra time to prepare for Sweden’s showdown with the Czech Republic.

This run of fixtures was looking gruelling enough just from a club perspective, and throw in the World Cup play-offs on top, and it was really asking a lot for United’s stars to arrive at them in peak condition, potentially on a downer after a bad result at Liverpool if we lost.

Now they look set to get more than a week to clear their minds and refocus for these huge World Cup qualifiers which will decide whether or not they go to Qatar 2022.