Cristiano Ronaldo injury: Why Man Utd forward will miss derby against Man City and what we know so far

Cristiano Ronaldo will miss Manchester United‘s derby against Manchester City- at Old Trafford due to injury leaving Ralf Rangnick short of options in attack.

It is not yet known what the nature of the 37-year-old’s injury is but his absence is further compounded by Edinson Cavani also being reportedly unavailable to feature.

With Ronaldo and Cavani out of action, Rangnick may entrust Marcus Rashford or the in-form teenager Anthony Elanga to lead the line, or else deploy Bruno Fernandes in a false 9 position.

Although Ronaldo’s injury is undoubtedly a blow for United, the veteran forward hasn’t been at his best of late, scoring just once in his previous 10 matches in all competitions.

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The Portuguese is United’s joint-top scorer this season with nine Premier League goals, alongside compatriot Bruno Fernandes and has featured in 23 of United’s 27 league matches.

Analysis: Ronaldo is unfit for purpose in this form

By Daniel Storey, i chief football writer

Two draws in four days that demonstrate what is going wrong at Manchester United under Ralf Rangnick in two very different ways. Against Atletico Madrid, United were unable to complete passes in their own half for long periods and so invited pressure. Against Watford, they were able to complete passes until the final third and then promptly wasted their chances.

We spoke about Ronaldo’s poor finishing recently, but he is basically unfit for purpose in this form. Over his last 10 appearances, Ronaldo has had 36 shots and scored once. If you don’t press, don’t really create, don’t move an awful lot and only score with three per cent of your shots, you’re more of a hindrance than a help.

The importance of Bruno Fernandes is also worthy of investigation. During Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s lowest moments, Bruno carried this team on his shoulders because he needed to. To an extent, he’s still trying to do that. He leads the team for chances created and demands the ball. But that creates a problem when Bruno drifts out of form. He keeps trying and trying and trying when United have plenty of other potential strategies.

More to follow…

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