MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho were surprise omissions from Manchester United’s squad to play Manchester City on Sunday.
Ruben Amorim is taking part in his first Manchester derby since taking over as United’s head coach last month. And he made the bold call to leave out two of his most high profile forwards for the Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium.
Amorim had not stated that either player was injured ahead the game.
“We try to evaluate everything — training performance, game performance, engagement with the team-mates, push the team-mates up,” he said. “Everything is on the line when we’re analysing and trying to choose the players. So it was my selection, simple.”
Rashford was substituted after 56 minutes of United’s Europa League match against Viktoria Plzen on Thursday and has scored three goals in six appearances under Amorim.
Garnacho, who scored in United’s FA Cup final win against City in May, came on as a substitute against Plzen.
“I don’t want to send a message. It’s simply evaluation,” Amorim said. “They know — the players are really, really smart. Everyone understands my decision. I have to choose. It’s simple selection.”
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