Manchester United interim boss Ralf Rangnick has made three changes to his starting line-up ahead of tonight’s crucial Champions League clash against Atletico Madrid.
Scott McTominay, Bruno Fernandes and Anthony Elanga come into the side for Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford.
Giving his pre-match thoughts, Rangnick said: “We’re fully aware that we need both the team and fans on top form tonight. We know that we have to be at a high energetic level right from the start of the game.
“To start with, it was about having fresh legs but also playing with a very high level of aggression and energy, that’s why I decided this starting XI.”
Regarding Elanga’s inclusion: “It’s not just for the goal (in the first leg), we need speed and verticality, we saw how important that was in the first game.”
United’s starting line-up: De Gea, Dalot, Varane, Maguire, Telles, McTominay, Fred, Fernandes, Elanga, Sancho, Ronaldo.
McTominay and Fernandes missed Saturday’s 3-2 win against Tottenham and Elanga replaced Rashford with 25 minutes remaining.
The Swedish under-21 international has been rewarded with a place in the XI following his decisive equaliser in the Spanish capital three weeks ago.
Cristiano Ronaldo will be hoping to deliver the goods in the competition that he is the all-time top goalscorer and has won five times.
The 37-year-old comes into the game against the reigning La Liga champions fresh after becoming FIFA’s all-time top goalscorer following his hat-trick against Spurs to take his tally to 807 career goals for club and country.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has scored 25 goals against Atletico, only Sevilla (27) have had more goals scored against them by the Portuguese legend.
Here is how Diego Simeone’s side line-up for the clash at Old Trafford…
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