22.10.2018 » Cristiano Ronaldo ready for Old Trafford return
It's already been a big week for Cristiano Ronaldo, but on Tuesday it’s going to be an emotional one too as he returns to Old Trafford in the UEFA Champions League. Juventus face Manchester United and a win will take them four points clear of their English rivals. The Vecchia Signora didn't win their final game before this European clash, as they were held to a 1-1 home draw by Genoa. It was another history-making day for Cristiano though, as he scored his fifth Serie A goal for the Italian champions. His goal made him the first player to score 400 goals in Europe's top five leagues, following 311 in La Liga for Real Madrid and 84 for Manchester United, both of whom could do with his talents at present. Ronaldo had plenty of chances to extend that goal tally with 11 first-half efforts. However, he couldn't score again, and Juventus lost their 100% record in the Serie A...
Manchester United vs Juventus - Match preview:
Man United vs Juventus
Now the attention is being turned towards the Champions League as the Italian side attempts to win the trophy for the first time since 1996. It was that incredible goal from Ronaldo that helped knock Juventus out of the Champions League last season, now hopefully he can recreate that magic for the Italian side.
He's already had an eventful Champions League season, being controversially sent off in the away win at Valencia. That led to the Portuguese international missing the home win over Young Boys but to his relief, he'll be back for an emotional return to Old Trafford on Tuesday evening.
Joining United
It was back in 2003 that Cristiano left Sporting Lisbon to head for Old Trafford. It could have been a different story though, as both Liverpool and Arsenal had interest in signing him but didn't and have probably been regretting their wrong decision ever since.
Man United signed Ronaldo for £12.24m in the summer of 2003, and CR7 became the first ever Portuguese player to sign for the Old Trafford club. He made his first-team debut in August 2003 and over the next six years he scored 118 goals in 292 league and cup appearances for Man Utd, including 42 in 49 games in the 2007-08 season, though surprisingly he only ever scored one hat-trick for them. He won nine trophies with Manchester United, before moving to Real Madrid for £80m prior to the 2009-10 season.
Emotional return
Cristiano Ronaldo returned to Old Trafford before with Real Madrid, scoring the winner as the Merengues beat them in the last sixteen of the 2012-13 Champions League. Back then, CR7 didn’t celebrate the goal and looked overwhelmed at the way the Man United fans cheered him.
The past few seasons have seen plenty of talk that Ronaldo would leave Real Madrid and rejoin Manchester United. That's never happened though and instead of returning to the Premier League, this summer saw him head to Juventus for another challenge in his hugely successful career.
Leading up to his return to Old Trafford, Juventus winger Fernando Bernardeschi said: «Ronaldo? he's very calm, he's focused. He's a champion in the field and mentally, he wants to score and to do well». Knowing Ronaldo, that may be just what happens...
Cristiano Ronaldo next game for Juventus is on October 23 of 2018 against Manchester United. You can watch Man United vs Juventus, Real Madrid vs Viktoria Plzen, Barça vs Inter, Shakhtar vs Manchester City, PSV vs Tottenham, and AEK vs Bayern Munchen, all matches provided from our live football game pages.
Juventus next game:
Man United vs Juventus kick-off time (23-10-2018):
Beijing (China) | UTC/GMT+8: 03:00
Jakarta (Indonesia) | UTC/GMT+7: 02:00
India (New Delhi) | UTC/GMT+5.30: 00:30
Italy (Turin) | UTC/GMT+2: 21:00
Spain (Madrid) | UTC/GMT+2: 21:00
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | UTC/GMT+1: 20:00
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | UTC/GMT-3: 16:00
New York (United States) | UTC/GMT-4: 15:00
Los Angeles (United States) | UTC/GMT-7: 12:00
Sources: ronaldo7.net / bbc.com / theguardian.com / espn.com
