Ralf Rangnick clarifies Manchester United consultancy role amid Austria coaching offer

Ralf Rangnick has confirmed he will continue as a consultant to Manchester United despite his expected appointment as coach of the Austria national team.

It emerged prior to the 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Thursday night Rangnick was considering an offer from the Austrian football association to take over ahead of their Nations League fixtures against Croatia, Denmark and France in June.

Rangnick will see out his tenure as interim manager of United, who have three games left this season, and he is due to stay on as a consultant on a two-year contract.

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The 63-year-old refused to address the reports about the Austria role but confirmed he would fulfil his consultancy contract with United.

"Tonight is our game against Chelsea and I don't want to speak about anything else," Rangnick said. "Please accept that and except that, so please ask questions about tonight's game.

"I said let us speak about the game. What I can tell you and confirm is I will definitely continue with my consultancy role at the end of the season and for the next two years and I'm very much looking forward to that.

"We haven't spoken, Erik and myself, but we have spoken with the board about the content, the profile of the job, the content of that consultancy role, we spoke about that and that's why I can now confirm I will definitely continue with that."

United can now only finish the Premier League campaign with a maximum of 64 points - the same amount they tallied during the David Moyes season of 2013-14.

Marcos Alonso put Chelsea 1-0 up on the hour but Cristiano Ronaldo equalised with his 23rd club goal this term.

"We were fortunate in the first-half," Rangnick accepted. "We needed some great saves by David