Ralf Rangnick Breaks Silence on Lingard Snub During Brentford Game with Honest Statement

Ralf Rangnick Breaks Silence on Lingard Snub During Brentford Game with Honest Statement

Rene Otinga
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:01 PM
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  • Lingard is set to leave Manchester United at the end of the season
  • The midfielder however did not get the chance to have a final run at Old Trafford, as Rangnick overlooked him in the game against Brentford
  • The interim manager has now defended his decision, saying he only had the luxury of three substitutes to choose from
  • He further added that Lingard had asked for some days away from training, and this played a factor in the decision to leave him out of the game

Manchester United boss Ralf Rangick has come out to defend his decision to leave out Jesse Lingard out of the game against Brentford on Monday, May 2.

Lingard, despite spending more than two decades at the Theatre of Dreams, did not get the chance to officially bid farewell to the Old Trafford faithful in United’s final home game of the season.

The midfielder has been heavily tipped to walk away from Manchester United once his contract at the club runs out at the end of the season.

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Rangnick speaks to Jesse Lingard during the UEFA Champions League Round Of 16 Leg One match between Atletico Madrid and Manchester United at Wanda Metropolitano on February 23. Photo by Ash Donelon
Source: Getty Images

On Monday, Rangnick opted to bring on Edinson Cavani and Fred, completely overlooking Lingard, but the interim boss strongly defended his substitutions.

"In the last couple of weeks under my tenure, he has played far more games than he used to," said Rangnick as quoted by BBC.
"Secondly, on game day against Chelsea [on 28 April] he asked me to release him from the game and training the following day for personal family reasons.

Lingard himself reacted to the snub days later, sharing a photo of himself as a child looking rather distraught.

According to Rangnick, he only had three substitutes to choose from and he had to make a decision that was best for the team.

"And this was the reason. With only three substitutes, I had to take a decision between Edinson Cavani and Jesse Lingard, or the young [Alejandro Garnacho], who I would have loved to have brought on and given a chance to play."

This season, Lingard has made 22 appearances for Manchester United, with the majority of them coming from the bench.

Pogba with the dance moves

Elsewhere, another outgoing Manchester United player, Paul Pogba, seems to be in much higher spirits as he continues his recovery from injury.

The midfielder posted a video of him dancing to some music as he stepped up his recovery.

He was injured in Manchester United’s 4-0 defeat to Liverpool and has already been ruled out from the rest of the season. It is highly unlikely he will play for Manchester United again.

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Rene Otinga
Rene Otinga is a sports journalist with over eight years of working experience in digital media. Rene's experience includes working as a Copywriter at X News Kenya and TUKO.co.ke.