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.
Man United’s possible tactics vs Atletico Madrid:
United have been playing in a 4-2-3-1 system under the interim manager and Rangnick is going to stick with the same plans this week as well.
The United players clearly do not have the legs to play a high-pressing game and even under Rangnick, counter-attacking has worked best for them. They will obviously try and pick up an early goal so that they can settle the nerves but we have a feeling the home side won’t be too adventurous on Tuesday.
Bruno Fernandes' stats since joining the Premier League compared to his teammates 🎩 pic.twitter.com/SO3cXGKvUD
— United Zone (@ManUnitedZone_) March 11, 2022
The manager has some major selection dilemmas going into the 2nd leg and some experts have hinted that he could opt for a change in formation in order to negate the shortfalls. We don’t think Rangnick is going to make any drastic changes though.
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.”
Great win guys!! Congrats on yet another record @Cristiano 💪🏼
All focus now on @ChampionsLeague pic.twitter.com/8JZ0Lxt0d7
— Bruno Fernandes (@B_Fernandes8) March 12, 2022
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.
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.
