Manchester United attacker Cristiano Ronaldo is reportedly in line to start in Sunday’s Manchester derby against Manchester City at the Etihad. After trying and failing to force an exit from Old Trafford in the summer transfer window, Ronaldo has only been on the fringes of Erik ten Hag’s team during the 2022-23 campaign. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner also missed a large chunk of the pre-season period, which allowed Marcus Rashford to stake his claim at the tip of the attack.
The report adds that both Rashford and Martial – who were not pictured in any of last weekend’s training pictures – are yet to get up to speed with the rest of the squad. As a result, the pair are both considered doubts for the trip to the champions, so Ronaldo could be given a rare opportunity to impress Ten Hag from the first whistle. The 37-year-old has gone six Premier League appearances without a goal or assist this season, and his only start in the top-flight campaign came in August’s 4-0 loss to Brentford.
Ronaldo has featured from the first whistle in both of the Red Devils’ Europa League games so far and scored his first goal of the season against Sheriff Tiraspol from the penalty spot earlier this month. During the international break, Ronaldo played the full 90 in both of Portugal’s Nations League clashes with the Czech Republic and Spain – setting up Diogo Jota’s goal in a 4-0 win against the former.