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Carrick: No pressing issues with Ronaldo

By CHRIS WHEELER and ADRIAN KAJUMBA

Manchester United’s caretaker boss Michael carrick has denied falling out with cristiano ronaldo and backed the Portugal star’s ability to play in a pressing team.

carrick sprang a surprise by dropping ronaldo for only his second game in charge since taking over from Ole Gunnar solskjaer when United drew at chelsea on sunday.

ronaldo came on in the 64th minute but made little impression and hurried down the tunnel at full-time after the briefest of handshakes with his manager.

carrick must decide whether to restore the player to his starting line-up against arsenal at Old trafford tonight but praised his response to being benched.

‘i didn’t see it as a major decision,’ said carrick. ‘We all got on really well, the game went well to an extent and it wasn’t a drama. it seems like it’s a big decision but, really, it wasn’t. ask cristiano, the way he responded was perfection.

‘around the dressing-room he was incredible, supporting the players. i went in to do my half-time team talk and he was warming up 10 minutes in advance ready to come on in the second half. a lot can be made of it, spin it in a negative way, but behind the scenes the reality is different.’

carrick’s decision fuelled concerns that ronaldo cannot be trusted to play the high-pressing game favoured by United’s new interim boss ralf rangnick.

But he added: ‘Maybe it’s a myth. he’s played in enough teams over the years to play in a variety of ways and kept scoring goals. i’m sure he will continue to score goals.’

carrick insists rangnick did not influence team selection or tactics at chelsea, and said the two have yet to speak as the German waits for his work permit to be approved.

‘Because of the work permit, we haven’t been able to (speak),’ said carrick. ‘We’ve carried on. it’s worked well the last two games and hopefully will tomorrow.’

Meanwhile, the champions League tie against Young Boys will go ahead at Old trafford next week after the swiss club were granted an exemption from quarantine rules.

n MiKeL arteta praised Gabriel’s character after his terrifying armed robbery ordeal. Sportsmail yesterday revealed the arsenal defender Gabriel fought off a baseballbat wielding robber who tried to steal his £45,000 Mercedes from his garage, with the attack on the Brazilian, who was with friend rodrigo tavares, captured on cctV.

the incident happened in august, with one of the culprits jailed for five years last month.

Gabriel has been a key figure in arsenal’s resurgence since he returned to the side in september and boss arteta said: ‘Obviously it is not a nice thing to go through when you have family involved, and they are trying to access your house. Gabi showed a lot of character. You see the reaction he had straight away. credit to the boy, after that he was fine. he was shocked and there were things he wanted to change to prevent those things happening and the club gave him all the support needed to forget about the situation, learn from it and move on.’

Gabriel and a friend were followed to his home in Barnet, north London following a night out, by two robbers who demanded the footballer’s car keys, mobile phone and watch as he got out of his vehicle.

One of the attackers, abderaham Muse, then lunged at the Brazilian with the bat, but Gabriel struck him in the face and wrestled with him, grabbing his hat, until the robber broke free and ran off.

Muse, 26, was jailed for five years last month after police linked him to the robbery in august through dna from the hat that had fallen off during the scuffle.

Football

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2021-12-02T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-02T08:00:00.0000000Z

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