Marcus Rashford explains Erik ten Hag's Cristiano Ronaldo approach

Marcus Rashford has suggested that his link-up play with strike partner Anthony Martial could be the reason why Cristiano Ronaldo is not in Manchester United's first-choice XI.

Ronaldo, 37, wanted to depart the Red Devils this summer after just one season back at United following his high-profile return from Juventus last year. He has been excluded from the side's last five starting line-ups and was forced to watch on as an unused substitute in Manchester City's 6-3 derby demolition of United on Sunday.

Rashford has established himself as Erik ten Hag's first-choice starting striker this campaign while Martial has returned to injury and netted a brace after coming on from the bench in the loss at City. Between them, they scored all three goals for United as second-half substitutes in Thursday night's comeback win at Omonia Nicosia.

Roy Keane accused the club of showing "disrespect" to Ronaldo after he was kept on the bench for the entirety of the game against City, and the former United captain's teammate Luke Chadwick - who made 39 first-team appearances at the club - added that it was "surprising" to see the forward not brought on as a second-half substitute in Sunday's game.

Ronaldo played the full 90 minutes in Cyprus but was outshone by both of his attacking teammates, who came on as substitutes early in the second half, ahead of Sunday's trip to Everton - with the Portuguese star likely to once again miss out on a starting berth domestically.

Rashford spoke about Martial on BT Sport after the game: "He's a massive player he has been for a long time, when he's happy and at it, he's an unbelievable player. I've always enjoyed playing with him, it was nice to link up with him today, we'll be looking to do that more and more.

"We've both been injured, him so a little longer than me, so it's nice to get minutes and for the second game in a row he's scored."

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Rashford also spoke about his role within the team and which position he was most comfortable playing. In recent seasons, he has thrived primarily in a left-sided attacking role but under Ten Hag, he has most commonly been deployed as a central striker in preference to Cristiano Ronaldo.

Speaking on which role he enjoys the most, the forward added: "I think I can play both, the left side is a bit more natural for me, I enjoy doing both positions and helping the team - that's what's important. We've got a lot of players who can play in a few different positions, it's a big positive to have, if we've got injuries, you never know what's going to happen, you need to be at your best to play whatever positions needed."

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