Ralf Rangnick believes former Real Madrid player Cristiano Ronaldo can help Manchester United defeat Atletico Madrid after the Portuguese scored a hattrick in their weekend’s Premier League victory.
Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick believes Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo can help defeat Atletico Madrid in the Champions League tonight.
United will host Spanish side Atletico Madrid for the return leg of the competition after a 1-1 draw in the first leg.
United are attempting to reach the Champions League last eight for just the third time since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, who was in the stands on Saturday as Ronaldo scored his first Premier League hat-trick since 2008.
The 37-year-old’s scored an hattrick to sealed a crucial 3-2 victory against top-four rivals Spurs and Rangnick has dismissed any suggestion that the Portuguese would be unable to handle the swift turnaround.
“Well, I’m not worried that he has not been able to recover,” the interim United manager said.
“So far he’s always been a person who looks quite a lot after himself, his body and he exactly knows what to do, so I’m not worried about that.
“If he can score another three goals, we will see. I mean, it’s not so easy to score three goals against this team at all.
“I think his overall performance was just good, if not even very good and this is obviously what we hope to get from him again tomorrow night.
“But it’s not just about Cristiano, it’s about the whole team.”
