Why Cristiano Ronaldo and Raphael Varane aren't in Manchester United squad vs Man City

Cristiano Ronaldo is missing the Manchester derby with a hip injury and Raphael Varane and Luke Shaw are both absent with Covid.

United have been dealt a major triple blow in the hours leading up to the derby, with Edinson Cavani also missing having been declared fit by Ralf Rangnick in his press conference on Friday.

From the side that drew with Watford a week ago Harry Maguire is in for Varane and Jadon Sancho has replaced Ronaldo, while Scott McTominay also comes in for Nemanja Matic, who is on the bench.

READ MORE: City vs United live blog

It is expected that United will line up in a 4-3-3 against City, with Bruno Fernandes playing as a false nine, although it could also be Anthony Elanga playing at centre forward.

Explaining the absences in his side, Rangnick said to MUTV: “Varane and Shaw tested positive for Covid in midweek, Edi trained well in the last three days but in the end he didn’t feel quite well enough to be able to play. Cristiano had problems with his hip flexor on Friday and hasn’t trained since."

Ronaldo missed two games last month with the same hip flexor injury, while Cavani hasn't played since starting against Burnley on February 8.

Rangnick wants to see United look more of a threat on the counter-attack today and show improvement off the ball from the 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford in November.

“It’s pretty simple, we shouldn't let them play through our lines, that’s what happened in November," he said.

"We should be as compact as we can be, winning balls in the middle of the pitch and then being dangerous on the counter-attack ourselves."

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