MY ACCOUNT
Manchester United stars Cristiano Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani and Raphael Varane were all ruled out of Sunday’s derby clash with Manchester City.
Ronaldo, who is United’s top scorer with 15 goals in 30 appearances across all competitions, was absent for the trip to the Etihad Stadium, while Cavani was also not fit enough to make the squad.
While the Portugal star leads the scoring charts for the Red Devils, he has managed just one goal in 2022 – a second-half strike against Brighton and Hove Albion on February 15.
Earlier reports suggested injuries were behind the absences of Cavani and Ronaldo, and Ralf Rangnick confirmed the latter hurt his hip in training on Friday.
While that left Marcus Rashford as Rangnick’s only recognised striker, the England international was named on the bench with Bruno Fernandes leading the line and flanked by Jadon Sancho and Anthony Elanga.
Rangnick also was again without Luke Shaw, with Alex Telles operating at left-back, while Scott McTominay replaced Nemanja Matic, and Harry Maguire came in for Varane from their last outing against Watford.
Shaw and Varane were missing due to testing positive for COVID-19.
City manager Pep Guardiola already confirmed ahead of the derby that the Premier League leaders would be without Ruben Dias due to a hamstring issue.
John Stones and Aymeric Laporte start at the back in Dias’ absence, with Kyle Walker returning to the side at right-back from their last league game against Everton.
Jack Grealish got the nod ahead of Raheem Sterling, who has never scored against United, while Riyad Mahrez was preferred ahead of Ilkay Gundogan as Bernardo Silva dropped back into midfield alongside Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne.
