Why United trio miss Brentford trip

Wednesday 19 January 2022 19:23

Ralf Rangnick has explained why there are several notable absentees in Manchester United’s squad to face Brentford.

While Marcus Rashford and Cristiano Ronaldo are available for selection again after minor injuries, with the latter starting up front, Edinson Cavani, Luke Shaw and Jadon Sancho are all unavailable.

Speaking to club media at the Brentford Community Stadium pre-match, Rangnick explained that Cavani and Shaw had to pull out following a couple of small injury problems.

Confirmed: United XI to face Brentford

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Ralf Rangnick has named his Manchester United starting XI to face Brentford at the Community Stadium.

“Edinson had to drop out after training yesterday,” Rangnick told MUTV’s Stewart Gardner.

“He had a muscular problem, so for me, it was logical. I’m happy to have Cristiano back in the team.

“Luke, unfortunately, also had to pull out after yesterday's training. He had some hamstring problems after yesterday’s training session.”

The boss has made two changes to the team that drew with Aston Villa on Saturday evening. Ronaldo comes in for Cavani and Scott McTominay replaces Nemanja Matic in midfield.

Scott is back in the team after missing Saturday's game through suspension.

“Scotty was out because he got suspended for the Villa game and I decided to play him from the start today," explained Rangnick.

Jadon Sancho, meanwhile, is absent due to personal reasons with Ralf adding: "A close family member passed away and the funeral was today so Jadon asked to not be part of the squad tonight."

Rangnick is expecting a difficult challenge at Brentford, who are welcoming United to West London for the first time in 75 years.

"It won’t be easy to play here," he admitted.

"Quite a few other teams had problems here so I’m fully aware that we have to play on a physically, mentally and tactically extremely high level in order to get the three points. We did that at Villa Park for 70-75 minutes, today we have to show up and play this kind of football for 90-95 minutes."

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