Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has defended benching Cristiano Ronaldo for their 1-1 draw with Everton.

Solskjaer came under fire for starting Ronaldo on the bench when United were held 1-1 at home by Rafael Benitez's side in their last game before the international break.

Ahead of tomorrow's clash with Leicester City, Solskjaer said: "I'm the manager. I manage the players for the club. It's nice to have him on the pitch because he'll always come up with the goods. The more we have him on the pitch the better.

"He's an exceptional player, an exceptional finisher, goal scorer, and an exceptional professional. It's hard to leave him out and I think everyone would love to, how do you say, if you can go and play six games in six days and play the same XI every time, it's great.

"But rotation, we need to get to April and May with everyone firing. We got to May in the final stretch of last season and we were too tired."