Scholes insists Man Utd ‘very lucky’ under Rangnick

Will Ford
Former Man Utd midfielder Paul Scholes comments on the match

Manchester United legend Paul Scholes claims his former side’s display against Atletico Madrid was a “typical performance” under Ralf Rangnick.

Anthony Elanga came off the bench to earn a draw away in Madrid on Wednesday night after Joao Felix had given the hosts the lead.


F365 says: Manchester United eventually rise to the Atletico challenge


It was a decent result for United, who will now fancy their chances of progression with the second leg at Old Trafford to come.

Rangnick said he was “very disappointed” with his side’s first half display in particular, but Scholes believes didn’t think it was out of the ordinary as United have been “very lucky” in general under the German manager’s watch.

“When you say strange performance, I don’t think it is a strange… it is a typical Man Utd performance these days, since November when this manager came in,” he said on BT Sport.

“It’s been very much the same, they have been very lucky to get through games and win games but you have to say his record is very good. I think his substitutes as well, on Sunday he made a big call bringing Fred on [and] Fred scores the winner.

“Tonight he has made a big call, we were all looking thinking “these subs look a little bit strange” and then Elanga comes on and scores a goal. So it is not strange for me, it is just a typical Man Utd performance tonight.”

On the performance, Rangnick told BT Sport: “I don’t know if I rescued it but after the performance in the first half, it could only get better. What we played in the first half I still cannot believe. We played without conviction, without aggression and that is why we were struggling.

“Second half we did better, more possession in areas that mattered and if we played another 10 minutes we might have won the game. We have to play better in the first half, I was very disappointed by that performance in the first half.

“Against and with the ball we were far too apprehensive and did not take any risks. We only played it in our own half and then it is difficult against a team like Atletico. Their goal was difficult to defend, a brilliant cross and finish. We have to play with more conviction on the ball, we need more deep runs and the way we scored the goal was exactly that. This is how we have to play against them.”