Manchester United begin their Premier League campaign on Sunday and all eyes will be on Erik ten Hag to see if he names Cristiano Ronaldo in his first XI.
Last week, there were reports that the new Man United manager is going to put his faith in Anthony Martial to lead the line vs Brighton meaning Cristiano Ronaldo will have to start on the bench.
However, the manager admitted in his pre-match press conference that Martial has picked up an injury and will not play this weekend.
Speaking about the Frenchman’s injury, Ten Hag said: “It is always difficult to say with these injuries, but hopefully not[out] too long.”
Martial was leading the line in almost all of United’s pre-season matches but now that he is injured, it remains to be seen if Cristiano Ronaldo will start on Sunday or not.
Happy to be back 💪🏽🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/Fp6dpBTXcb
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) July 31, 2022
Will Cristiano Ronaldo play from the start vs Brighton?
Some rumours have suggested that Erik ten Hag believes Ronaldo is still not 100% match fit so the manager might use Rashford as his main centre-forward for gameweek one.
However, we doubt if ten Hag will have the courage to keep someone like him on the bench, more so since Anthony Martial is out with an injury.
If Martial would have been fit then the manager might have taken this call but with him out of contention, there’s very little chance that Cristiano Ronaldo will start on the bench on Sunday.
Ronaldo is obviously in top shape but he has missed almost 90% of pre-season with the club which is why the Portuguese might not be well-versed with the new manager’s tactics.
This same thing was evident during the Rayo Vallecano game so starting Ronaldo up front will definitely be a bit of a gamble. However, CR7 is a goal-scoring machine and if he can bag a couple of goals on Sunday, we don’t think Ten Hag will be complaining too much.
