Sport

EPL: Rangnick snubs Cristiano Ronaldo, names best player in football history

Rangnick snubs

Manchester United interim manager, Ralf Rangnick, has named two legends as the best footballers in history.

Rangnick was asked to pick who is the better player between Cristiano Ronaldo who he will manage and Paris Saint-Germain’s Lionel Messi.

Instead, the 63-year-old opted for former Argentina skipper, Diego Maradone and Johan Cryuff, who established an eye-catching brand of football at Barcelona.

“We have Cristiano [Ronaldo] here, we have Lionel Messi, we have Robert Lewandowski right now, so it’s difficult to just name one of them.

I would say Diego and Johan are definitely two who should be named,” Rangnick said.

The German is poised to take charge of his first United game on Sunday, when they welcome Crystal Palace to Old Trafford in the Premier League.

Rangnick, who got his UK work permit this week, was in the stands as Ronaldo netted twice in a 3-2 win over Arsenal on Wednesday.

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UEFA to ban six clubs from Champions League, Europa League

Two Portuguese clubs, FC Porto and Sporting Lisbon, are among eight clubs that have been fined and six threatened with exclusion from European competitions over unpaid debts.

The clubs have been adjudged to have breached UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations, due to their their “non-compliance with the ‘no overdue payables’ requirement”.

UEFA’s newly-established ‘First Chamber of Club Financial Control Body’ handed out all the punishments.

The clubs affected are: Astana (Kazakhstan), CFR Cluj (Romania), CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria), Mons Calpe (Gibraltar), Real Betis (Spain) and Clube Desportivo Santa Clara (Portugal).

As well as the fines, six of the teams will be banned from the next European competition they qualify for, if the debts are not settled by January 31, 2022.

Only Astana and CFR Cluj don’t have that additional sanction hanging over them.

Sporting have already qualified for this season’s Champions League knockout stage, while Porto will progress if they beat Atletico Madrid next week.