Man United managed to beat Spurs this weekend and with wind under their sails, the Red Devils now head back into the Champions League.
United face Atletico Madrid in the 2nd leg of their Round of 16 clash and with the tie perfectly balanced at 1-1, both the sides have everything to play for this week.
Since that 1-1 draw, Atletico have massively pulled up their performances having won four and drawing one of their previous five matches. Manchester United, on the other hand, has won only two out of their previous five outings.
The Premier League side did beat Spurs 3-2 but like Man City, Conte’s side also managed to unfurl up a lot of vulnerabilities in Rangnick’s plans meaning if Atletico Madrid push hard enough there’s every chance that things could go bad for the home team.
Thankfully for Man United, there are no away goals so the only thing they will have to focus on is to score one more goal than the visitors. Rangnick does have a few major injury concerns going into this tie and this could be a major issue for the interim manager.
A response that we needed.
+3 🅰️@Cristiano 😮💨🥶🐐 pic.twitter.com/V1othtAVj4— Jadon Sancho (@Sanchooo10) March 12, 2022
Man United team news & injuries vs Atletico Madrid:
Ralf Rangnick has a series of selection issues before the Spanish side come to town and in almost every area of the pitch, the manager is missing key players.
Luke Shaw had tested positive but is probably going to make a comeback this week. Rangnick had confirmed that while he has tested negative the report came too late for Saturday’s game.
The manager had updated on Friday: “Luke will still be out, until yesterday, he was still testing positive even though he was negative today. Hopefully, he will be a candidate for Tuesday but, for Saturday’s game, he will be out.”
Scott McTominay is the other player who is a doubt but like Shaw, the midfielder will also be touch and go in midweek.
The Man United boss had said: “Scotty is a question mark, problems with his calf. Right now it’s more likely he will not be available because if we risk him tomorrow he might be out for the game on Tuesday.”
McTominay was not used vs Spurs just so that he could be fit this UCL game so we have a feeling the Scottish international will be back in the side to partner Fred.
Fred's game by numbers vs Tottenham:
100% successful dribbles (4/4)
86% pass accuracy (38/44)
80% long pass accuracy (4/5)
8 ball recoveries
5 duels won
3 chances created
2 blocks made
1 assistA complete midfield performance. 💪🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/Cvjgz4cmI9
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) March 12, 2022
Bruno Fernandes missed Saturday’s game due to an illness and we are not yet sure if he will be fit for the Man United vs Atletico Madrid tie or not. No one has officially claimed that he has tested positive because if he has then he’s sure to be an absentee.
If the Portuguese is missing then Paul Pogba will have to be used in the No 10 role once again, just like he played vs Spurs.
Cavani has come back and this is a major boost for the Man United boss but after Ronaldo’s hat-trick on Saturday, there’s no doubt who is going to lead the line.
Man United predicted line up vs Atletico Madrid:
Predicted Starting Line up(4-2-3-1): De Gea; Varane, Maguire, Shaw/Telles, Dalot; Fred, McTominay/Matic; Jadon Sancho, Elanga, Pogba/Bruno; Ronaldo.
