Cristiano Ronaldo is on his way to making his second debut for Manchester United against Newcastle United on September 11, after being released from Portugal six days earlier than originally scheduled, after achieving his world record. goals against the Republic of Ireland on Wednesday.
Ronaldo, who completed a 15m-euro transfer from Juventus to United on Monday, surpassed former Iranian striker Ali Daei as the all-time leading scorer at national team level by scoring his goals 110 and 111 with Portugal in the 2-1 qualifying victory for the World Cup against Ireland in Faro.
But a yellow card issued by Slovenian referee Matej Jug after Ronaldo took off his shirt while celebrating his second goal caused the 36-year-old to be suspended for Tuesday’s qualifying match against Azerbaijan in Baku.
Ronaldo had planned to play this match and Saturday’s friendly against Qatar in Hungary, but with the goal record already secured, Portugal coach Fernando Santos has released the player from his squad for the meeting with Qatar because you can fly to Manchester and extend your prep time before the clash from Newcastle to Old Trafford.
The decision saves Ronaldo two trips to Eastern Europe and will be seen as a big boost for United and coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Ronaldo has not played for United since the defeat in the 2009 Champions League final against Barcelona in Rome, after which the striker completed a world record move of £ 80 million at Real Madrid shortly afterwards. after.
But after making his first United debut against Bolton in August 2003, he will now have at least a week of training with the Solskjaer team before being available to make his second debut. against Newcastle.