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Rangnick explains big decisions

Ralf Rangnick has been asked about his Manchester United XI for the Champions League round-of-16 second leg with Atletico Madrid.

The interim manager decided to make three changes to the side that defeated Tottenham 3-2 at the weekend, when Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brilliant hat-trick.

Scott McTominay, Bruno Fernandes and Anthony Elanga come in for Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford.

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Only Luke Shaw was apparently unavailable after his illness had marked him as a doubt beforehand.

“Well, to start with, it was also about fresh legs and also about, as I've said, playing with a high level of aggression and energy,” Rangnick told BT Sport, when quizzed on his team selection.

“And that is why I decided [to select] this starting XI.”

When asked whether homegrown youngster Elanga was rewarded after his key goal in the first leg at the Wanda Metropolitano, the boss replied: “Yes, but this is not the only reason. It's also about verticality and about speed.

”We saw in the first leg this could be a major issue for us today.“

 

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