Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had to defend his call to bench Cristiano Ronaldo after his Manchester United side were held to disappointing 1-1 draw on Saturday.
It ends level. #MUFC | #MUNEVE
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) October 2, 2021
Solskjaer started the 36-year-old five-time Ballon d’Or winner on the bench, coming on for Edinson Cavani in the 57th minute with United leading through Anthony Martial’s first goal in eight months.
But the Portuguese stormed off the pitch at full time after Andros Townsend’s 65th-minute equaliser on a lightning break.
United also escaped a devastating late blow and second home defeat in a week, when Yerry Mina’s 85th-minute strike was ruled out for offside.
Asked if he made a mistake not to play CR7 for the full 90 minutes, Solskjaer said: “No.
“You make decisions throughout a long, long season; you have to manage the players’ workload and the decision for me was the correct one.
“We got hit on one break that cost us and we lacked that cutting edge to get the important second goal.”
Ronaldo looked irritated at the final whistle, hurrying off the pitch with Townsend in tow.
Townsend had celebrated his goal in Ronaldo’s in trademark “Siu” style.
But Townsend explained after the match that he was not make gat of the Portuguese and even got his “idol” to give him his famous No.7 jersey post-match.
The Toffees winger says: “It’s a mark of respect to a guy who influenced my career. So it wasn’t an imitation, it was a mark of respect to one of my idols.
“I probably didn't do the celebration justice and didn’t execute it perfectly.”