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The last time Manchester United played Manchester City, Cristiano Ronaldo was not involved.
The 37-year-old did not make the trip to the Etihad Stadium back in March and his absence raised eyebrows at the time given he was United’s top goalscorer. Ralf Rangnick claimed that Ronaldo was injured, while other reports suggested he was completely dropped from the Red Devils squad.
United were struggling for form ahead of the clash with the reigning Premier League champions, having previously drawn against Atletico Madrid and Watford. They needed a win to reignite their campaign but questions were raised when Ronaldo was not included in the Red Devils’ 18-man contingent.
When quizzed on the matter before kick-off on March 6, Rangnick said: “Cristiano had some problems with his hip on Friday and since then didn’t play.” But nobody was buying that reason, given that there were rumours about Ronaldo’s future earlier in the week and he never usually misses matches due to a minor injury.
The Sun published a report saying United squad members had been ‘stunned’ by the absence of the former Real Madrid and Juventus star. It was also claimed some figures were angry that Ronaldo hadn’t turned up to show his support to the rest of his team-mates.
Roy Keane, who was performing punditry duties for Sky Sports that day, also questioned whether Ronaldo was really injured. “We talk about Ronaldo being a machine and very rarely getting injured… it doesn’t add up to me,” he said.
The Red Devils ended up losing the game 4-1, with Kevin de Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez grabbing a brace each for City, while Jadon Sancho scored United’s only goal of the game. It was a ruthless performance from Pep Guardiola’s side, who were outstanding on the day.
In contrast, United were very poor and finished that campaign in dreadful form, winning just one of their final five league matches and ended with their lowest ever Premier League points tally. They picked up just 58 points from their 38 games and only just squeezed into the Europa League ahead of West Ham United.
Despite United’s awful form, Ronaldo still finished with 24 goals in 38 games and was the third highest scorer in the Premier League behind Heung min-Son and Mohamed Salah. After the Red Devils failed to qualify for the Champions League, Ronaldo revealed that he wanted to leave the club back in July with just a week until he was set to return to pre-season.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner was allowed some time off due to “family reasons” but didn’t return until the end of the month, however, ahead of United’s final friendly against Rayo Vallecano. That was the only game he played in pre-season but it was enough to earn Ronaldo a start in their opening league match against Brighton.
It proved to be a disastrous start to the season for the Red Devils as they were beaten by the Seagulls and Brentford and sat at the bottom of the division ahead of their game against Liverpool. Erik ten Hag decided to ring the changes and Ronaldo was dropped alongside Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Fred as United looked to turn their fortunes around. It was a decision that worked as the Red Devils won 2-1.
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Since then, the Red Devils won their next three league matches and currently sit inside the European places heading into the Manchester derby. Despite not starting in any of those matches, Ronaldo could be handed a recall to their Premier League XI after Marcus Rashford sustained an injury prior to the international break.
Ronaldo scored his first goal of the season in United’s final game before the break as they beat Sherriff in the Europa League, with the experienced forward netting from the penalty spot. This could be enough to convince Ten Hag to start him against City if Rashford is deemed not fit and Anthony Martial still isn’t ready.
Ten Hag has a major dilemma on his hands as he could start Bruno Fernandes as a ‘false-nine’ and bring Fred back into midfield to make United more compact with Antony and Jadon Sancho out wide. Similarly, he could bring Anthony Elanga back in and shift Jadon Sancho up front, using his pace to cause City problems. But Ronaldo seems the obvious option given his experience and knowhow in big fixtures.