Solskjaer responds to criticism over benching Ronaldo vs Everton

"You know, he’s an exceptional player, exceptional finisher, and a goalscorer, and an exceptional professional. It’s hard to leave him out," Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said about Cristiano Ronaldo, as quoted by the official Man United website.

"Everyone would love to, how do you say… You can go play six games in six days and play the same XI every time, it’d be great.

"But it’s rotation. We need to get to April-May with everyone firing, last season we got to May and we were a little bit too tired.

"I’m the manager, I manage the players, I manage for the club, but, of course, it’s nice to have him on the pitch because he’ll always come up with the goods and the more we have him on the pitch, the better."

The manager was criticised by fans and part of the media for benching Cristiano in the last game before the international break. Even Sir Alex Ferguson questioned Ole's decision in a private conversation that got leaked.

The match against Everton ended in a 1-1 draw, even though Ronaldo came on in the second half.