EPL

Ronaldo out of Man Utd's clash with Leicester due to flu

By Sports Desk April 02, 2022

Cristiano Ronaldo was not part of Manchester United's squad for Saturday's Premier League home game with Leicester City due to illness.

The 37-year-old played both World Cup qualifying play-off games for Portugal during the international break, but he was struck down by flu on Friday and was not ready to face City.

Ronaldo has scored 18 goals in all competitions since returning to United in August, with 12 of those in the Premier League, including a hat-trick against Tottenham in his most recent outing in the competition.

Confirming the reason behind Ronaldo's absence, Rangnick told MUTV pre-match: "He had some flu-like symptoms before training yesterday and didn't feel well enough to train.

"We sent our doctor to his home this morning to check if he felt any better, but he didn't, so he's not in the starting XI as he was supposed to be."

Prior to the visit of Leicester, United had failed to win any of the five top-flight matches they had started without Ronaldo since the five-time Ballon d'Or winner rejoined.

Despite the absence of Ronaldo, and with Edinson Cavani again being ruled out through injury, Marcus Rashford had to settle for a place among the substitutes.

Rangnick instead went with the same system and side that started last month's 4-1 loss to Manchester City when Ronaldo was last absent.

Captain Harry Maguire, jeered by a section of England supporters during a friendly in midweek, retained his place in defence.

As for Leicester, who had won their past three games against United in all competitions, they paired Wesley Fofana and former Red Devils man Jonny Evans together in defence for the first time this season.

Related items

  • Harry Kane stars with hat-trick and two assists as Bayern Munich batter Bochum Harry Kane stars with hat-trick and two assists as Bayern Munich batter Bochum

    Harry Kane was the star of the show with a hat-trick and two assists as Bayern Munich maintained their unbeaten run in the Bundesliga after hammering Bochum 7-0.

    The hosts ran riot with the England captain scoring just minutes after Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting’s opener and goals from Matthijs de Ligt and Leroy Sane gave them a 4-0 lead at half-time.

    Their dominance continued after the break as Kane scored from the spot and assisted Mathys Tel before earning his first hat-trick for Bayern with minutes to go.

    Kane’s excellent start with Bayern means he has now scored seven goals in five league matches as the defending Bundesliga champions sit top of the table.

    Elsewhere in the Bundesliga, Marco Reus’ second-half goal earned Borussia Dortmund a 1-0 win over Wolfsburg while former Chelsea striker Timo Werner scored the only goal for RB Leipzig in their victory at Borussia Monchengladbach.

    Hoffenheim won 2-0 at Union Berlin thanks to goals from Andrej Kramaric and Maximilian Beier, while Werder Bremen were 2-1 winners against Cologne. Davie Selke put the visitors ahead, but Rafael Borre and Justin Njinmah claimed the three points.

    Ermedin Demirovic’s double earned 10-man FC Augsburg a 2-1 victory over Mainz, who had taken the lead through Ludovic Ajorque. Arne Engels was sent off in the 62nd minute, but Augsburg held on.

    Joao Cancelo’s 89th-minute goal completed an amazing comeback by Barcelona as they scored three times in the final 10 minutes to beat Celta Vigo 3-2 in LaLiga.

    Rafael Benitez’s Celta put in an excellent display and looked home and hosed as they went 2-0 up after 76 minutes when Tasos Douvikas added to Jorgen Strand Larsen’s excellent first-half goal.

    But they succumbed to an incredible late rally that no one saw coming as Robert Lewandowski scored twice in four minutes before former Manchester City defender Cancelo won it with one minute of normal time left.

    The comeback will paper over the cracks of what was a worrying display for Barca, who were cut open at will by a vibrant Celta side, but Xavi’s men go to the top of the table with the three points.

    Benitez will be highly enthused by what he saw from his team, even if they are just one point above the drop zone.

    Barcelona climbed above Girona, who continued their excellent start to the season with a 5-3 win over Mallorca, with goals coming from David Lopez, Artem Dovbyk, Ivan Martin, Yangel Herrera and Savio. Vedat Muriqi and Abdon Prats’ brace replied for Mallorca. Sevilla and Osasuna drew 0-0.

    AC Milan drew level with city rivals Inter at the top of Serie A after a 1-0 win over Verona.

    Rafael Leao’s early goal did the damage, though Inter can go clear later in the weekend.

    Juventus missed the chance to go top after they slumped to a 4-2 defeat at Sassuolo.

    The Bianconeri had claimed 10 points from an unbeaten start, but came unstuck at the Mapei Stadium as Sassuolo battled to a second league win.

    Armand Lauriente, Domenico Berardi, Andrea Pinamonti and an own goal from Federico Gatti sealed the three points for Sassuolo. Juventus levelled twice through Matias Vina’s own goal and Federico Chiesa.

    Nantes won an eight-goal thriller 5-3 against Lorient in Ligue 1.

    Goals from Matthis Abline, Eray Comert, Mostafa Mohamed, Florent Mollet and Moses Simon did the damage, with Eli Kroupi, Romain Faivre and Tosin Aiyegun responding for the visitors in a topsy-turvy match.

  • I’ll relish this’ says Dominic Calvert-Lewin after Everton break their duck I’ll relish this’ says Dominic Calvert-Lewin after Everton break their duck

    Dominic Calvert-Lewin took a swipe at the Everton boo boys after marking his return from injury with a goal in the 3-1 win at Brentford.

    The England striker was jeered by some fans after he went off with a fractured cheekbone during the 4-0 defeat at Aston Villa at the start of the season.

    But he showed the Toffees what they have been missing by climbing off the bench to wrap up their first win of the season.

    “Football is a funny old game,” Calvert-Lewin told Sky Sports.

    “When I came off against Aston Villa my own fans booed me off. Today they cheered me. I’ll relish this and take the rest with a pinch of salt.”

    James Tarkowski had headed the Toffees back into the lead against his old club after Mathias Jensen cancelled out Abdoulaye Doucoure’s opener before half-time.

    Then Calvert-Lewin grabbed only his second goal since last October when he collected James Garner’s through-ball and slotted home.

    .
    Boss Sean Dyche insisted a vastly improved display had been on the cards for a while despite picking up just one point from their first five matches.

    He said: “I don’t think it came from  anywhere. The signs have been there but you have to change the storyline, you have to take your chances.

    “To come in at 1-1 was a bit of a head-scratcher, so to come out in the second half and be so calm again was very pleasing.

    “I’m very pleased with the whole performance. My job is to look at the performances, win or lose. We’ve deserved more but you’ve got to force it and today we did.

    “We had a good chat in the week with the players and said it’s us who have to change the story.

    “It’s tough playing well and not getting results. That’s where you should grow and have on-pitch maturity and play under pressure and that’s what we did today.”

    The Bees, by contrast, were distinctly off-colour and are still without a win at home this season.

    Boss Thomas Frank said: “It was a very bad day. Everton deserved to win, we performed badly.

    “We performed very well in our first first five games, but today was a bad one.

    “It was very unlike this group of fantastic players, but we are good at bouncing back from a bad performance and I expect us to bounce back.”

  • Joao Cancelo helps Barcelona complete incredible comeback against Celta Vigo Joao Cancelo helps Barcelona complete incredible comeback against Celta Vigo

    Joao Cancelo’s 89th-minute goal completed an amazing comeback by Barcelona as they scored three times in the final 10 minutes to beat Celta Vigo 3-2.

    Rafael Benitez’s Celta put in an excellent display and looked home and hosed as they went 2-0 up after 76 minutes when Tasos Douvikas added to Jorgen Strand Larsen’s excellent first-half goal.

    But they succumbed to an incredible late rally that no one saw coming as Robert Lewandowski scored twice in four minutes before former Manchester City defender Cancelo won it with one minute of normal time.

    The comeback will paper over the cracks of what was a worrying display for Barca, who were cut open at will by a vibrant Celta side, but Xavi’s men go to the top of the table with the three points.

    Benitez will be highly enthused by what he saw from his team, even if they are just one point above the drop zone.

    They looked more like the team at the top of the table with an incisive first-half performance, which was rewarded with a 19th-minute lead.

    Barca could not clear a corner properly and on the second phase Lucca De La Torre slipped in Larsen and the Norwegian produced a fine shot into the bottom corner with a finish his compatriot Erling Haaland would have been proud of.

    They should have led 2-0 five minutes before the break but Marc-Andre Ter Stegen produced a one-handed save to deny Larsen. The rebound fell to Jonathan Bamba and he was primed to score until Oriol Romeu produced a fine block. The danger was still not over as the ball fell to De La Torre, but he blazed over with the goal at his mercy.

    Celta thought they should have had a penalty early in the second half as their pace caused a constant threat on the break, but VAR ruled in the hosts’ favour.

    There was no escape, though, in the 76th minute as the visitors got their deserved second, which at the time looked to have sealed the points.

    They launched a quick counter-attack and Douvikas raced on to Iago Aspas’ perfect pass to convert with a bobbled finish.

    But Barca showed, even playing away from the Nou Camp, they can have a fortress in Estadi Olímpic Lluis Companys as they produced a fine three-goal salvo in eight minutes.

    Lewandowski started things off when he latched on to Joao Felix’s ball and hooked home in off the crossbar.

    Three minutes later it was all square as the Poland striker tucked home from Cancelo’s cross.

    Cancelo then took stage to win it in the 89th minute when he arrived in the box to convert Gavi’s cross and seal a sixth succesive win in all competitions.

© 2023 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.