Man Utd v Atletico Madrid: Ralf Rangnick gives fitness update on Bruno Fernandes, Scott McTominay & Luke Shaw

Ralf Rangnick has admitted he is unsure whether Bruno Fernandes, Scott McToiminay or Luke Shaw will be back in time to face Atletico Madrid on Tuesday.

The trio all sat out Manchester United’s 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur for various reasons, but could be in line to feature when United host Atletico in their Champions League last-16 second leg.

United drew 1-1 when the sides met last month and a win at Old Trafford would see them progress to the quarter-finals. That’s why it’s so pivotal that Rangnick can name his strongest possible XI.

The German said pre-match that Fernandes missed the win over Spurs due to illness, with the Athletic claiming the Portugal international had tested positive for Covid-19.

However, there does seem to be some confusion with United’s Covid cases, with David De Gea recording a false positive before the Spurs game and then registering a negative result, after taking a PCR test.

Meanwhile, Luke Shaw is one player who certainly had Covid, and missed the Manchester derby and Tottenham games for that reason, but should return to training before Tuesday’s match.

As for Scott McTominay, the midfielder missed out due to a calf problem, but Rangnick is hopeful he will be able to call upon his services when Diego Simeone’s men come to town.

“I don’t know,” Rangnick responded when asked if Fernandes, McTominay and Shaw will be back available. “With Scotty, I hope so, but he had some muscular problems with his calf and that’s why we decided to not play him today because Scotty, quite like Fred, he is only valuable if he can perform with 100 percent of his physical capacity.

“Rather than play him with 80 percent and take the risk that he will be out for the game on Tuesday, we decided to not play him.

“Luke, hopefully will be back in training tomorrow, and Bruno, we will have to wait and see until Tuesday. But this will probably be a last-minute race with him.”

Rangnick was then asked whether Fernandes has indeed tested positive for Covid, and replied: “We have to be careful with those Covid tests, because with David it was the same.

“David, yesterday was out, he was not supposed to play. Then it turned out that his first test was false. He took another one or two fast tests and then a PCR test and that was negative. I only decided this morning that he was going to play.”