Manchester United’s interim coach, Ralf Rangnick, talked about the Red Devils’ chances of winning the Champions League this season. Manchester United will face Atletico Madrid in the 2021-2022 Champions League last 16 second leg. The Man United vs Atletico match is scheduled to take place at Old Trafford on Tuesday (15/3/2022) local time.
In the first leg, Man United and Atletico played 1-1 at the Wanda Metropolitano. Despite scoring one goal in Madrid, the Red Devils did not get the away goals advantage because the rule did not apply from this season. This means that both Man United and Atletico must beat each other by any score to qualify for the quarter-finals.
The Red Devils welcomed the game with an inconsistent performance. When competing at Atletico’s headquarters, Cristiano Ronaldo et al also had difficulty developing the game. Luckily for Man United, Anthony Elanga managed to score the equalizer 10 minutes before the end of normal time.
The Red Devils’ inconsistency is most visible on the Premier League stage. Ralf Rangnick’s troops even lost 1-4 to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium in week 28. However, the Manchester Reds were able to bounce back in week 29 with a 3-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur thanks to a Ronaldo hat trick.
Ahead of the match against Atletico, Ralf Rangnick acknowledged Man United’s poor performance, especially in the last Manchester derby. The German coach also considered that his team made no sense to win the Champions League, at least for now.
“Sunday (vs Man City), I almost felt like we were at a funeral. We were dead, like the end of the decade or whatever,” Rangnick told a news conference. “I feel like it’s the worst team I’ve ever coached,” he said of Man United’s performance against Man City. “After the 3-2 win against Tottenham, we discussed our chances of winning the Champions League. Ask me that question (championship chances) if we reach the Champions League final. At the moment, I think it doesn’t make sense.” Rangnick said that if they failed to pick up full points against Tottenham, it would look impossible for Man United to finish in the top four.
The MU consultant next season saw that the remaining Premier League matches had to be won by the Red Devils. “Saturday’s Premier League game (vs Tottenham), was almost like a final for us,” Rangnick said. “If we don’t win, it’s almost impossible to finish fourth. Right now, we are still not in the best position, but we are still in the race (top 4). We are fully aware that we can’t drop any more points, so we have to win almost every game,” he explained.
Furthermore, Rangnick is determined to bring Man United to advance to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. “We have the next final to try to move on to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Everyone at this club wants to be part of the Champions League after Tuesday. We want to continue to the next round and the quarter-finals,” said the 63-year-old tactician.
The Champions League is the only competition that Man United are most likely to win. The reason is, Man United is far behind Man City and Liverpool in the Premier League and failed in the FA Cup and English League Cup.
