Cristiano Ronaldo applauded his Manchester United team-mates on social media following their 1-0 win over Aston Villa in the third-round of the FA Cup at Old Trafford last night.
Scott McTominay's eighth minute header was enough to seal a return to winning ways for United and book a fourth-round date with Middlesbrough next month, despite being forced to ride a wave of Villa pressure.
The Midlands outfit, who had two second half goals disallowed for offside, were by far the better side and were unlucky not to force the contest to extra time at the very least, with United, not for the first time this season, having David de Gea to thank for his heroics.
Considering interim manager Ralf Rangnick made five changes in a bid to freshen up his squad, even though some were enforced, including the absence of Ronaldo, it did little to change United's performance levels, with the players coming under plenty of scrutiny in the aftermath of the full-time whistle.
Despite limping over the line and into round-four, Ronaldo approved of his team-mates' efforts, taking to Instagram following the encounter.
Screenshotting the full-time score, Ronaldo accompanied the post with just two emojis; a flexed bicep and a clap, suggesting that he was proud of his team-mates' efforts.
Ahead of kick-off, Ronaldo's absence from the match-day squad was soon a quick talking point in the aftermath of the team news being confirmed. However, Rangnick quickly cooled any mounting rumours, confirming that the Portuguese star was missing out because of a muscle problem.
He said: "I spoke to Cristiano yesterday (Sunday) before training and he said he'd had some problems for the last couple of days, spine minor problems and in the end we decided it would make more sense not to take any risks in a cup game that could last 120 minutes."
As things stand, it remains to be seen if Ronaldo will return for Saturday's second instalment of the week against Villa. However, Rangnick will provide a further update on the Portugal international later in the week.
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