MANCHESTER: Hours before Manchester United’s 2-1 win over Premier League champions Manchester City, Ruben Amorim made the surprising decision to drop Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho.
Amorim’s men came back in the dying minutes to beat City at the Etihad Stadium through goals from Bruno Fernandes and Amad Diallo, and the Portuguese manager said his decision was to maintain the high standards of his players.
“When people at the club lose their positions, we need to raise the bar higher,” said Amorim, referring to former Sporting Director Dan Ashworth who left the club earlier.
However, according to Amorim, the decision not to list Rashford and Garnacho was not related to discipline.
“Next week, next game, new struggle, they are fighting for a place but for me it is important, the performance in training, in the game, the way you dress, the way you eat, communication with your teammates, helping your friends, everything is important when you want to change a lot of things.
“They have to fight for their place in the team and today the players proved that we can leave anyone behind and still win games together,” he said.