Manchester United’s new interim manager would have been watching closely as his soon-to-be players did their auditions at Stamford Bridge
![Remote hand of Rangnick already in play as Ronaldo feels the chill | Barney Ronay](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/cb9fae420484ef542d6e2b28ab92d857a2d5754b/0_135_3000_1800/master/3000.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=0a867c2c7ca576151b12ad0ac02d3eb4)
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Cristiano Ronaldo prepared to come on to the pitch with an hour gone at Stamford Bridge, having already performed a dutiful kind of warm-up, idling along the touchline like a venerable old don taking a stroll on the chamomile lawns, a large book of laminated diagrams was waved in front of his nose.
Ronaldo, to his credit, made a decent show of having a look. Two decades into one of the great elite level careers, CR7 is not too proud for your diagrams. But there might have been a temptation to grab that folder and scour the hand written notes, to look for a sign, a prognosis of his own future in this mid-season revolution.