Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick has explained the decision to allow Edinson Cavani time off after the international break last week.
Both Cavani and Rangnick have been criticised on social media for the decision, particularly after United crashed out of the FA Cup at the hands of Middlesbrough after extra time on Friday.
The team had 30 shots but only managed a single goal and Cavani’s presence could have made the difference in the crucial tie.
At the pre-match press conference ahead of tonight’s Premier League game with Burnley, Rangnick was asked to justify the decision.
‘He played in Uruguay 90 minutes and even with the original travelling schedule he couldn’t be available for that game,’ the manager explained.
‘Maybe he could have been on the bench and come on in extra time, maybe, maybe, but again, even with him [we would have missed] that many chances and we had enough top quality players on the pitch in order to not miss those chances.
‘In hindsight it doesn’t make sense to speak about that.
‘Edinson asked me two days after the West Ham game if he could stay one or two days longer in Uruguay and at the time we didn’t know anything about Mason Greenwood, this only came up a week later.
‘And that’s why we allowed him to spend one or two days longer in Uruguay and come back for the game against Burnley.’
Cavani is likely to start tonight’s match, particularly after his teammates performed so poorly in front of goal on Friday.
Cristiano Ronaldo (10), Marcus Rashford (6) and Bruno Fernandes (6) had 22 shots between them without registering a single goal.
However, the Uruguayan himself has only scored two goals for the Red Devils this season from 668 minutes of football.
Cavani when United need him to play more than once a month pic.twitter.com/wf1HozJPvv
— Jordan (@FourFourJordan) February 3, 2022