Rangnick defended his decision not to play Lingard

manager Ralf Rangnick defended his decision not to play

in the English midfielder's last game at Old Trafford.

Lingard's contract with the Red Devils expires at the end of the season and he is expected to leave Manchester United for another team in the Premier League. The match against

is the last home game of Manchester United this season, which could have been Lingard's last appearance at Old Trafford, but Lingard was on the bench in this game and Rangnick decided not to use him. Lingard's brother criticized the German coach's decision and Rangnick defended his decision.

The German said:

"Well to start with, I think in the last couple of weeks under my tenure, he has played far more games than he used to before I came.

"Number two, on gameday against Chelsea [last Thursday] he contacted me at the hotel and asked me to release him from the game and to also release him from the training session two days after the Chelsea game, for some personal family reasons, and I allowed him to do that.

"This was the reason, and with only three substitutions, unfortunately – in all the other leagues you have five – I had to take a decision between bringing on Cavani or Lingard, or even the young Alejandro Garnacho, who I also would have loved to bring on and give him a chance after being 3-0 up.

"I took the decision to bring on Edinson for the very reasons I just explained. If I hadn't brought on Edinson maybe someone else would have posted 'it was classless not to bring on Cavani', or someone else would have posted 'why didn't the manager bring on Garnacho?'

"You have to take a decision. This will not be to the liking of everybody, but it's part of the game."

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