Champions League UCL
Ralf Rangnick Fires Stern Warning to Man United Players Ahead of Atletico Madrid Old Trafford Match
Ralf Rangnick Fires Stern Warning to Man United Players Ahead of Atletico Madrid Champions League 2nd Leg.
Ralf Rangnick has stressed it is the Manchester United players’ job to ensure the fans provide the sort of feverish atmosphere that can help the Reds overcome Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
Matching Atletico’s aggression is going to be vital if the Reds are to see off Simeone’s men and it could be an intense scrap for a last-eight spot.
When asked about needing to address this, Rangnick replied: “Especially against a team like this, who come exactly with this kind of approach, they will try to create those moments where it’s about physicality. For us, it’s about being ready for that and being aware of that, but also to try to avoid possession of the ball where they can easily get body contact on us.
“This is what we have to do.”
The Spanish champions were backed by vociferous support at the Wanda Metropolitano in the first leg but, although leading through Joao Felix’s excellent header, they were undone by Anthony Elanga’s late leveller.
With Atleti known for their high-octane approach under Diego Simeone, it is clear the Reds will need to match the energy and aggression provided by the opposition. To help in that respect, the Old Trafford faithful clearly has a major part to play if we are all to experience another special occasion under the lights.
In his exclusive pre-match chat with club media, the boss was in no doubt of what is required if United are to pull off a victory that would take us into Friday’s draw for the quarter-finals.
On the back of the fabulous 3-2 victory over Tottenham in front of a noisy crowd, the volume needs to be cranked up further once the famous Champions League anthem plays again in advance of the 20:00 GMT kick-off.
“It’s 1-1, we play at home and we have to make sure that playing at home is an advantage for us,” explained Rangnick. “This is what [Spurs boss] Antonio Conte said after the game, it was a very difficult atmosphere. As I said, it’s one of the biggest compliments that you can get if an opponent’s coach speaks after the game of a difficult atmosphere for them, a special atmosphere.
“This is what we have to realise. We have to bring our supporters behind us, even more so than they normally are anyway so we have to play in a way so that the fans can really carry us all through the game.”
United will be aiming to secure their spot in the quarter-finals of the Champions League when they welcome Atletico Madrid to Old Trafford in the second leg of their last 16 tie on Tuesday night.
The tie is delicately poised at 1-1, after Anthony Elanga came off the bench in the first leg to equalise for Manchester United. Ralf Rangnick‘s side were far from their best at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano, but their confidence has been boosted by their 3-2 victory over Tottenham on Saturday. Cristiano Ronaldo‘s hat-trick led the Red Devils to victory over Spurs, and he will be looking to enjoy further success against Atletico in the Champions League.
Atletico Madrid have enjoyed a strong upturn in form as of late and their 2-1 victory over Cadiz on Friday means that they are in the top four of LaLiga Santander at a key stage of the season.
Looking at the team news, Manchester United will again be without Mason Greenwood as a result of a club suspension, while Bruno Fernandes and Luke Shaw could miss out with COVID-19. Meanwhile, Scott McTominay looks set to return from the calf problem which kept him out on Saturday.
As for Diego Simeone‘s side, Yannick Carrasco is unavailable due to suspension, while Matheus Cunha, Daniel Wass, Sime Vrsaljko, Thomas Lemar, Mario Hermoso and Geoffrey Kondogbia are all injured. Jose Maria Gimenez is a doubt for the clash after he was forced off injured against Cadiz, but Koke returned on Friday night and is expected to start at Old Trafford.
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3-3 draw between Manchester United and Galatasaray in UEFA Champions League – Group A. They also analyze the performance of goalkeeper Andre Onana and the chances of Erik ten Hag’s side of advancing to the knockout stages.
Not saying Onana is done at Utd but surely ETH needs to give the back up a chance at this point. Even DDG needed to come out of the team briefly when he first came to the club. Gives him a chance to build his confidence away from the spot light. But TBH DDG was never this bad to begin with sm
Throwing away leads, basic mistakes and tonight, despite Onana performing better recently we might as well have had Jonny Evans in goal.
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As much as I like eth, he caused our exit by bringing in a keeper not too familiar with EPL. In fact he should not have sent David away the way he did. He should have kept him and the duo should have competed. Onana errors contributed a lot to the exit
Tactically, I think ETH did pretty much everything correctly. Outside of Magelof not being good enough in general, the only criticism I can offer is that Mainoo should’ve come on for McGhost after he scored his goal. Solidify that midfield and shut everything down.
Credit/Getty Images: Andre Onana VS David De Gea – Who Is Better
The keeper had a bad game and had a lot already this season which isn’t great but let’s hope he gets better as the season goes cause I remember when De Gea first came to United and he was not great as well but he matured, got stronger and became a great goalkeeper. But ETH needs to replace Onana for the next game and let him know that he needs to step it up.
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As a United fan I have to disagree with the assessment of the performance. There was no control, no maturity. United give the ball away far too easily for this level. When you have less possession than a Sean Dyche team and then get 43% against Galatasaray, you’re not the technical side the manager wants to build. I feel sorry for Onana, he’s been doing much better recently. The mistakes he’s making are so basic it speaks to a mental problem. My hope is that Onana will feel much more comfortable when we develop into the team Ten Hag wants. Need to bring in ball-playing CBs and controller midfielders in the next two windows. Then we’ll see the real picture.
I honestly hope we finish bottom of the group so they can just focus on the domestic front. This team is poor to say the least and we will get knocked out in the second round even if we scale through by some miracle. So best not to, as for “O na na, whats my name” Don called it! He needs to reassess his priorities as a goalkeeper… now I’m ranting on YouTube, darn you ManUtd!
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Can David de Gea be the short-term fix Manchester United needs? | If I was him I wouldn’t go back there after the way he was disrespected .. I can’t believe the management could be this bold and daft after the treatment they gave that guy.
Don’t do it!!! They decided you weren’t good enough and decided to get onana. Even if you took a pay cut, it would of been to facilitate onana. That’s tells you what you need to know
Of course teams have offered him contacts and he’s chosen to say no. He’s said very clearly he’ll go to club fighting to win things and unfortunately all the top clubs have keepers. He might come back when the right club wants him.
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Wonder if Man U is telling Onana to skip the African cup due to his recent poor performances. Otherwise they’re telling him his spot is at risk
United have no transfer strategy so this potential move makes 100% sense. Afterall they bought Mason Mount for 50 million to warm the bench.
Onana/getty images/
It will be a mess and destabilising if we bring him back.. Shoking how he was treated after 12 years. And we bought a young goalkeeper, surely he gets a chance and we still have Heaton I believe.. What’s the point anymore? 😆 We’re a joke!
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De Gea deserved better treatment. He should plain down reject any offer or entertain the offer just to reject it. The Man Utd negotiators could not negotiate their way out of a brown paper bag, absolutely disgrace to their profession.
If they bring him back prep for a new manager. Cause ten hag is clearly incompetent.
And he’s been offered but he won’t take less than what he is worth, he’s a golden glove winner and a legend 🤷🏽. Onana can’t even distribute this season and can’t stop a beach ball.
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It’s a strange one this because de Gea priced himself out of a job. He wanted a contract worth more than than the £375k a week he was already getting, and Man United originally agreed to one, and then changed their mind, and I don’t blame them. He’s worth $75 million thanks to MUFC.
He was the World’s richest goalkeeper last season, and while he is a great goalkeeper, most pundits would name either Nuer or the recently retired Buffon as the greatest goalkeeper of the last 15 years, and most pundits would put the Brazilian duo Ederson and Becker as the best keepers in the Prem right now. What I’m saying is that at $75 million net worth de Gea could have afforded to be philosophical about it all and perhaps taken a pay cut.
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Christian Eriksen joins Peter Schmeichel for a post-game interview after a Man of the Match performance after Manchester United’s 1-0 win over Copenhagen. Eriksen came in as a second-half substitute and assisted Harry Maguire’s game-winning goal.
Still can’t believe Eriksen plays for Man United, especially after we all know what happened to him. I still remember that day and honestly thought we’d lost him. So happy to see him around and still playing.
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Glad to see Eriksen get his praise. He was always my favorite player at Spurs. Lack of competition in the squad forced him to regress a bit in his career. Barcelona/Real Madrid were interested at him at a time. Then he went to the demon Conte, who doesn’t know how to handle flair footballers. And of course after his health situation, happy he got to perform at Brentford, and for Ten Haag with his creative flair. Though now Man Utd have both Ambrabat, and Casemiro, should make him perform much better in a free role! Or at least backup to Bruno.
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The only reason i dont see Eriksen starting is because it doesn’t always look like he can play a full match, hence ETH has to be wise regarding when he should put Eriksen in the game. But everytime he’s subbed on, the entire team breaths easier and gains that extra sense of control. A game that was otherwise frantic, uncoordinated, improvised and scrappy, was all turned around when Eriksen came on the pitch. Gosh I wish we could see more to him.
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Eriksen Heart problem/Getty Images
The midfield in the Derby has to be him, Brumo and Amrabat.. whenever Eriksen plays deeper, it releases Bruno.. this experiment of Bruno playing as a deep playmaker and Mctominey as a 10/Second Striker has clearly failed.
We know Eriksen can’t play 90 minutes, but ETH should try to start with him and find a comfortable lead before subbing him off. I don’t remember Bruno having any influence on the game, or in previous games, he is so panicked in possession unlike Mr.Cool here. I would swap them around and see what happens.
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