Cristiano Ronaldo was benched for the ‘sprinting and chasing’ of Edinson Cavani at Burnley but this was a night when neither of Ralf Rangnick’s veteran strikers could give him what he wanted
- Cristiano Ronaldo is enduring one of the worst scoring droughts in his career
- Ralf Rangnick opted for Edinson Cavani to start for his work rate and aggression
- But he spurned a great chance and Ronaldo could not find a winner off the bench
- Burnley held on to claim a hard-fought and deserved point at Turf Moor
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Cristiano Ronaldo took refuge from the rain in the away dugout at Turf Moor. Three days on from his 37th birthday, and on the cusp of the worst goal drought of his club career in 12 years having missed a penalty against Middlesbrough, it was not where he would have chosen to be.
But a wet Tuesday night at Burnley wasn’t the right time or place to start Manchester United’s five-time Ballon d’Or winner according to Ralf Rangnick.
He knew what to expect from Sean Dyche’s side and preferred the more combative figure of Edinson Cavani to lead his attack.
Edinson Cavani (left) and Cristiano Ronaldo (right) could not score at Turf Moor
Cavani was selected to start and was denied a goal by this save from Nick Pope
‘Today it will require a lot of sprinting and chasing, a lot of fighting for second balls,’ said Rangnick.
‘I think this profile fits perfectly for Edinson. That’s why I decided to start him. We will also need Cristiano to start in the next couple of games.’
His comments said just as much about Ronaldo as they did about Cavani. Sprinting, chasing and fighting aren’t Ronaldo’s strong suits after all.
It was a bold decision by Rangnick considering the last time he took Ronaldo out of the action, at Brentford last month, the Portugal star had a major strop.
‘It’s a big call,’ said Peter Crouch on BT Sport. ‘I’m not sure how well Cristiano is going to take that.’
Manchester United wen ahead through Paul Pogba but were ultimately pegged back
But Ronaldo hadn’t scored in four games (now five, equalling his worst barren spell in club football for Real Madrid in 2010) and blew a chance to end that run after he missed from the spot when United went out of the FA Cup to Boro on Friday.
Cavani, a slightly younger option but only in the sense that he turns 35 next week, got the nod after missing that tie because he was given a few extra days off at home in Uruguay.
He was more suited to the occasion and the conditions, and put in the hard yards that Rangnick demanded.
But United’s interim boss had criticised his players for not being more ruthless in the build-up to this game, and Cavani missed his big chance with a close-range header in the 33rd minute that was kept out by Nick Pope.
Ralf Rangnick said he was resting Ronaldo partly as he is needed for the next two games
The Uruguayan did little else of note and departed in the 68th minute as Ronaldo came on to make the first appearance of his career at Turf Moor.
His arrival was met with howls of derision from the Burnley fans, even more so when his first touch was to put the ball out of play instead of to the feet of Diogo Dalot.
It didn’t get much better, to be fair, as he headed over before the end on a night when neither of Rangnick’s veteran strikers could give him what he wanted.
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