Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick has defended Raphael Varane after his performance in their 1-1 draw at Newcastle.

The 28-year-old is likely to keep his place next to Harry Maguire for the visit of Burnley on Thursday night in United's final game of 2021.

"Raphael has not played for the last five or six weeks," Rangnick said. "Even before the Tottenham game he was injured, so in the last three months he hasn't played that many games.

"Yes, he made a mistake before the first goal we conceded but apart from that I think he was okay. I wouldn't say he was outstanding, the same with Harry, but he did okay.

"Our problem was that we allowed too many transitional moments. This is not only a problem of the centre-backs, it is a problem of the whole team. It starts up front, the role of the number 10s in that kind of formation.

"I don't think it makes sense today to speak about the individual performance of players. We need to get better as a team."