Despite Cristiano Ronaldo's poor form, Steve Nicol doubts Ralf Rangnick will indeed drop him from Manchester United's starting lineup.
On Wednesday, Ronaldo did lead the attack again for Red Devils against Atletico Madrid in the 1st leg of their Champions League Round of sixteen match. Rangnick's team did come from behind to acquire a 1-1 draw in Spain, and the 37-year-old played an entire 90 minutes.
The Portugal international has a solid record against Diego Simeone's team. However, he was also unable to left an imprint at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium on wednesday evening, failing to register a single shot on goal.
Nicol now insists that Ronaldo is beginning to resemble just another player.
Ronaldo, according to Nicol, is beginning to look more like another player. The retired Premier League player recommended that the Red Devils drop the veteran and instead initiate Marcus Rashford up front. On ESPN FC, he stated, "It is obviously getting to that moment [when Cristiano Ronaldo must be dropped] because I'm not sure I can remember the last time I looked at Ronaldo and assumed, 'This is the guy who has won all that available in his entire career.'" He's starting to look so much like a player. To be honest, I believe it is getting close to that time. Should Rangnick have the guts to go through with it? I'm not convinced. I would definitely make a change, and I would start Rashford.
On Wednesday night, Ronaldo had an 88 percent pass accuracy. The fmr Real Madrid superstar, on the other hand, did not produce a single perfect pass to his teammates.
Against Atletico Madrid, he also did fail to actually win aerial battle. Rashford and goal scorer Anthony Elanga, on the other hand, managed to win six of them between eachother.
Manchester United's 1-1 draw with La Liga champs this week implies they have plenty to play for it in the tie's second leg. The two teams are set to square off at Old Trafford on March 15th. When the two teams meet again in the second leg, Cristiano Ronaldo will aim to make up for his abysmal performance on Wednesday. Before this week's draw, the 37-year-old had scored 25 goals in 35 games against Atletico Madrid in all competitions. It's important to note that Ronaldo has 15 goals and three assists in 29 games for Manchester United this season across all competitions.
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