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Team News: Manchester United vs Rayo Vallecano (Pre-Season) — Cristiano Ronaldo Returns & Lisandro Martinez Debut

Home> UtdDistrict

Updated 12:00 4 Jan 2023 GMTPublished 20:23 30 Jul 2022 GMT+1

Team News: Manchester United vs Rayo Vallecano (Pre-Season) — Cristiano Ronaldo Returns & Lisandro Martinez Debut

All of the latest team news ahead of United's final pre-season fixture

Cain Smith

Cain Smith

Manchester United return to Old Trafford on Sunday for their final pre-season fixture ahead of the new season and Erik ten Hag's side will have a major reshuffling following their loss against Atletico Madrid.

The Reds were on the losing side for the first time under the new manager in Oslo, after Joao Felix's late goal was the difference between the two teams on the day.

There were still positives to be taken from the performance, but Ten Hag will be looking head into the opening Premier League game against Brighton with a win against Rayo Vallecano.

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We are going to see a largely different team back in Manchester, with the game only 24 hours United's game in Norway.

Ten Hag has confirmed that those who started against Diego Simeone's men will not play at the Theatre of Dreams.

"The players who played today from the start will not come on tomorrow," he told MUTV.

"Tomorrow we will have a different starting eleven, but there are players who came on who could start tomorrow."

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This rules out the team which began the game on Saturday. The starting XI for that game can be viewed below.

However, it does suggest that Christian Eriksen could start the game, despite coming on against Atletico. He was very impressive in his cameo from the bench.

Lisandro Martinez is also due to start after he was an unused substitute in the 1-0 loss. The Argentine is likely to be Ten Hag's trusted left centre-back going forward.

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The big news is that Cristiano Ronaldo is due to play after missing United's pre-season tour after he expressed his wishes to leave the club this summer.

After the 37-year-old announced on Instagram that "the king" will play at Old Trafford on Sunday, his Dutch manager confirmed that he'll play a part, but specified that he doesn't know how long his appearance will be.

Cristiano Ronaldo (IG)

“Tomorrow he [Ronaldo] will be in the squad," he told journalists. "We’ll see how long he can play."

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Alongside the new men and Ronaldo, there could be a number of fringe players who appear against the La Liga opposition.

Amad, Zidane Iqbal and Charlie Savage could be amongst them, as all three were left out of the travelling squad to Norway.

However, one of the midfielders could drop out for James Garner. The 20-year-old missed out on appearing at the beginning of pre-season through injury, and despite his short cameo at Ullevaal Stadion, he could be set for more minutes as Ten Hag assesses whether he's ready to be apart of his squad next term.

Raphael Varane is set to return to the line-up after he played behind-closed-doors on Wednesday afternoon. He will likely partner Martinez for the second time in five days.

Jadon Sancho's inclusion is unknown. He missed the game against Atletico Madrid due to illness, but if he is feeling better on Sunday, he could appear at Old Trafford.

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Whilst Ten Hag will be keen to give youngsters more game-time, with United's season beginning exactly seven days after the encounter, he will also be wanting to provide a team strong enough to get the win.

Featured Image Credit: Alamy/Manchester United

Topics: Manchester United, Premier League, Football, Erik Ten Hag, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lisandro Martinez, Christian Eriksen

Cain Smith
Cain Smith

Website lead, Editor and Admin at UtdDistrict

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@cainsmithMU

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