Ralf Rangnick reveals exchange with Cristiano Ronaldo after his strop during Manchester United’s win over Brentford

Ralf Rangnick told Cristiano Ronaldo he was substituted ‘in the interests of the team’ during Manchester United’s 3-1 win over Brentford on Wednesday evening.

The 36-year-old reacted angrily to being replaced by Harry Maguire in the 71st minute with United already leading 2-0.

As he made his way to United’s dugout, Ronaldo was seen throwing his coat to the floor and asking coaching staff, ‘why me?’ as he sat on the steps next to the bench.

But Rangnick defended his decision and insists he has ‘no issue’ with Ronaldo.

Speaking about the incident after the game, Rangnick said: ‘The only reaction I got was him asking me, ‘why me, why did you take me off?’. I said to him, ‘listen, I have to take the decision in the interests of the team and the club’.

‘We had exactly the same situation five days ago at Villa Park. Being 2-0 up, 15 minutes to play. Of course, we didn’t want to make the same mistake again.

<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>When you get subbed off for Harry Maguire. #BREMUN pic.twitter.com/HQauoek45k

‘I decided to switch to a back five with Harry Maguire and bring on Marcus as another fast winger on the right side. I think it was the right decision.

‘But Cristiano was not happy. He’s a goalscorer, he would’ve wished to stay on and score a goal himself. But for us it was more important to be compact, to make sure we have enough legs and enough strong headers to defend their free kicks and set pieces.

‘When we scored the third goal I said exactly that to him. I said, ‘look, Cristiano, I understand that you are still ambitious and you want to score yourself. Maybe in a couple of years when you are a head coach yourself and hopefully you’ll take the same decision, be in the same role that I was in today after 75