Jesse Lingard was an unused substitute on the Manchester United bench as they were held to a 1-1 draw against Leicester, and Ralf Rangnick has confirmed that the midfielder vomited during the match.
United's top four hopes were given a fresh blow as they were held by Leicester at Old Trafford, as the Red Devils lacked firepower against the Foxes. Cristiano Ronaldo was a notable absentee as the Portuguese star was ruled out with illness, and it appears that Lingard was also feeling under the weather.
Bruno Fernandes started as a false nine as United lined up without their iconic no.7, and Marcus Rashford was the only attacking option brought off the bench as Lingard and Juan Mata were both unused substitutes. And there is now a good reason for why Lingard wasn't used, as he vomited during the match.
Depending on Arsenal and Tottenham's results to wrap up the weekend's action, United could find themselves six points off the top four, with just eight games remaining until the end of the season. The match against Leicester was seen as a 'must win', but unfortunately for United, they failed to claim all three points, and they now face an almighty battle.
They may have been missing their star man, and options were limited on the bench, but Rangnick insisted he is 'not looking for excuses' as United now find themselves in a difficult position. Speaking after their disappointing draw against Leicester, Rangnick said: "It's about not being continuously stable enough and playing on the same kind of level.
"I'm not a manager looking for excuses, not at all, but it was an unusual situation in the middle of the season, two-and-a-half weeks without a regular game, players on international duty coming back Thursday, jet lag, time difference. Other teams have this but it didn't help us at all in this moment.
"Missing Cristiano, the fourth striker (United have been without) in the last couple of weeks and months, Jesse Lingard couldn't come on because he felt sick and was vomiting during the game, we had all the offensive players available on the pitch at the end.
"We played against a good team, they were in good shape, they had won three out of four games, most of their injured players were back. This was a fair result, at the end, they deserved to get their point, we deserved to get a point, to win the game we were not continuously for the full game convincing enough."
Lingard has struggled for game time this season at United despite being promised more action by former boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. And frustratingly for the midfielder, if he hadn't been feeling unwell on Saturday it's very likely that he would have been brought on by Rangnick.
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United now have a monumental challenge on their hands, but thankfully for them they can close the gap with Arsenal in the race for fourth as they still have to face them this season. But the Gunners currently have two games in hand on United, with a three point advantage already in place.
The Red Devils are also behind Tottenham, who are level on points with United but could also distance themselves with a win against Newcastle on Sunday. It's been a disastrous season for United, but missing out on Champions League football could really hinder them for the coming campaign.
Not only are they yet to appoint a new long-term manager, they may struggle to attract big names stars that they are desperately in need of. And it's unlikely that five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo will want to settle for anything other than Champions League football.
