Cristiano Ronaldo got it wrong with his last Manchester United comment - but so did his teammates

Ralf Rangnick would have known he was going to find it difficult at Manchester United the moment he tried to get Cristiano Ronaldo to press with the kind of commitment, aggression and structure that he expects.

If you want to see an archetypal Rangnick team then you only need to watch Austria in Euro 2024. They have topped a group containing France, Netherlands and Poland and they have done so playing the most high-octane style of any of the 24 nations.

Rangnick has turned an international side into a pressing machine and they are suffocating teams who like to play at a slower tempo. It has made Austria one of the most watchable sides at the tournament and a realistic dark horse to reach the final in Berlin on July 14.

They can only meet Portugal in the final, having ended up on opposite sides of the draw, but the meeting with Ronaldo would be a fascinating narrative around such a fixture. Rangnick never won over the players at Old Trafford but Ronaldo was most scathing of all.

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"This guy is not even a coach," Ronaldo said. "All the coaches that I had in my career, I call them boss because if they assume the job we have to call them in that way. But deep inside me, I never saw him as the boss."

Ronaldo wasn't alone in having that view inside the United dressing room. After a bright start, the players quickly lost faith in and support for Rangnick.

But on the evidence of what he has done for Austria - and a respectable club career before that - maybe his time at Old Trafford is worth a reappraisal. Yes, the results were a disaster and Rangnick ended with the worst