Cristiano Ronaldo makes his comeback at Manchester United on Saturday as a base force. The attacker is one of eleven players that manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will send onto the field at 4 p.m. for the home game against Newcastle United. It is for Ronaldo his first game in the uniform of the Mancunians since May 27, 2009, when then manager Sir Alex Ferguson’s team lost the Champions League final to Barcelona 2-0.
Solskjaer did not want to directly answer the question of whether Ronaldo would be in the starting line on Friday. “He has done a good preparation at Juventus, he has played for the national team and he has had a good week with us here. He will definitely be on the field at some point, that’s for sure”, the Norwegian did not let himself look into the cards. “I think everyone is very, very happy to have him back. He also seems happy to be back. The mood was very good, he worked hard.”
Ronaldo breaks a striking record in the Premier League on Saturday. Never before has there been such a long period between a footballer’s two Premier League matches. The old record was held by Damien Delaney, who did not play a game in the highest division of England between 2002 and 2013 for no less than 11 years and 155 days. Ronaldo breaks that record: 12 years and 118 days since his last game in May 2009.
Manchester United had seven points left in the first three matches of the Premier League. The season overture against Leeds United was won 5-1, followed by a 1-1 draw against Southampton and a 0-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers. Ronaldo played two official duels this season: he spent half an hour in his final game for Juventus, against Udinese (2-2), and prevented Portugal’s World Cup qualifier against Ireland from going 0-0 with two goals in extremis. 1 defeat ended: 2-1.
Manchester United line-up: DeGea; Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Maguire, Shaw; Matic, Pogba; Greenwood, Fernandes, Sancho; Ronaldo.