Manchester United vs Aston Villa: Red Devils win without Cristiano Ronaldo

The Manchester United vs Aston Villa duel had everything, but the Red Devils took the victory even without Cristiano Ronaldo on the pitch. 

The players coached by Ralf Ragnick managed to have a great game in the first half in which they scored the only goal of the match, which ended with a score of 1-0. 

In the second half, David de Gea was the hero and the lack of precision of Steven Gerrard's players was the key to the Red Devils' victory. 

However, not everything was easy and there was controversy with the VAR, which disallowed a goal by Danny Ings in the first half of the match.

And all this happened in the absence of Ragnick's star player, who was announced at the last minute that he would not take part in the match. 

Why didn't Cristiano Ronaldo play in United's win over Aston Villa?

An hour before the match the United manager released the lineup for the match and to everyone's surprise, CR7 was not announced. 

But it was clarified that his absence was due to a muscular problem, with no further details of the Portuguese's health having been provided so far. 

And the surprise of ManU fans was not long in coming and they flooded Twitter with their complaints, because the player is not only the team's top star. 

The last time Cristiano played against Aston Villa in the FA Cup, he scored a goal and provided an assist. So their bewilderment was quite justified. 

After the news that yesterday Cristiano met with his manager to discuss his possible exit from the team, many media speculated that his absence on the field was due to this. 

However Rangnick took it upon himself to delve deeper into the situation, and said that it was all due to the need to take care of the Portuguese star's health. 

"I spoke to Cristiano yesterday before training, and he told me that he had suffered some minor problems in recent days. That's why we decided it made more sense to give him a rest and not take risks in a game like today's, where we could easily end up playing 120 minutes," said the coach. 

Goal, VAR and controversy in Manchester United's win over Aston Villa

The match was very intense in the first half and the goal fell eight minutes into the match. 

It all started with Fred's cross from the right; the ball made a sharp curve that fooled the Villa defense, and the ball arrived at the penalty spot where McTominay, beat everyone to the jump. 

With a powerful header, Scott McTominay beat Emiliano Martinez, the Argentine goalkeeper who, although he was well positioned, could not measure the trajectory of the ball due to the speed of the attacker. 

The goal was shouted and celebrated throughout the stadium and put the Red Devils ahead. 

The game was not without controversy and after a free kick from the right saw John McGinn send a ball into the back of the net, and Danny Ings hit the back of the net after a header from Ezri Consa, Steven Gerrard thought he had equalized against Manchester United.

But the referee warned that the play needed to be reviewed with VAR. And the review disallowed the goal because when McGinn touched the ball, Jacob Ramsey was offside. 

But not for trying to play the ball, but for blocking Edinson Cavani, who was trying to defend his goal. 

This started a controversy and a discussion on the field, which the referee had to clear up and with that, minutes of play were lost, which were made up at the end of the game. 

But with this result Manchester United remains in the fight for the FA Cup.