Cristiano Ronaldo made his first Manchester United appearance under Erik ten Hag in the final pre-season match against Rayo Vallecano ahead of the new campaign.
The 37-year-old has made his desire to leave Manchester United clear before the transfer window closes at the end of August but has struggled to find takers for his services.
Ronaldo missed the pre-season tour of the Far East and Australia due to family reasons and was absent again in Oslo on Saturday for the defeat against Atletico Madrid.
However, Ronaldo has been confirmed to feature in Sunday’s friendly against Rayo Vallecano at Old Trafford – with the former Real Madrid and Juventus star named in the starting line-up.
Ronaldo played the first half at Old Trafford before being replaced after the break by Amad Diallo, who opened the scoring immediately after his introduction.
With just 45 minutes of pre-season football, Ronaldo looks unlikely to play the entirety of Manchester United’s opener against Brighton and Hove Albion next weekend.
The Hag already made that clear when he said on Saturday that he wasn’t “at the level” of his teammates.
“At the moment I can’t say [how fit he is]. He’s not at the level of the rest of the team because he’s missed a lot of weeks. But he needs games and he needs to train a lot,” he said afterwards. defeat to Atlético.
