Man United vs Newcastle: All await CR7’s second “debut”
Manchester United will resume their Premier League campaign with a clash against Newcastle United on Saturday, September 11th, and it’s safe to say that there will be a lot more people tuning in this weekend. Why? Because Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to make his second debut after securing a late move back to Old Trafford. It was a move that many didn’t see coming.
While there had long been reports that the 36-year-old Portuguese superstar was not satisfied with life at Juventus, who had (rather unrealistically) pinned their Champions League hopes on him when they decided to spend a whopping €100 million on him in 2018, it still didn’t seem like anything was going to come to fruition. And when a reported deal with Manchester City fell through at the last minute, there were quite a few Bianconeri supporters still clinging to hope that he’d remain in Turin for another season.
However, after being on the bench during Juve’s 2-2 draw with Udinese, things really began to pick up, and at the end of last month, Red Devils fans were sent into wild celebrations with the announcement that after 13 years, Cristiano Ronaldo will be back at the club that made him into a global icon. He arrives in Manchester having become the first player to win the top scorer’s prize in the English Premier League, La Liga, and Serie A, and certainly will be hoping to win the Champions League once again – something that didn’t come to transpire at Juventus.
But first up will be Saturday’s clash with Newcastle. As things stand, Manchester United find themselves in third place, having won two of their first three games so far. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men have a very hectic fixture schedule ahead of themselves, with their Champions League campaign kicking off next week with a clash against Swiss outfit Young Boys, followed by beginning proceedings in the EFL Cup the following week. United will be keen on avoiding any slip-ups here, having already dropped two points in a frustrating draw against Southampton before the international hiatus, and with Tottenham taking an early lead thanks to their perfect start, the Red Devils will know they will need to get things right in Saturday’s tie.
Newcastle, for their part, have had an awful start to the season. So far, the Magpies have earned just one point from their opening trio of matches, leaving them mired in 17th spot in the table. Steve Bruce’s side did finally earn a point against Southampton, and unlike the Red Devils are not involved in multiple competitions until later this year. Their record, not surprisingly, against Manchester United, is quite poor, to say the least. Newcastle have lost their last three clashes, home and away, versus the Premier League giants, and in fact haven’t beaten them at Old Trafford in league play in nearly eight years (since December 2013).
Both teams will be missing some personnel for this match; United will have to make do without Marcus Rashford, who’s still recovering from shoulder surgery, as well as Fred due to being blocked for featuring for his club side by FIFA. However, big money signing Jadon Sancho appears to have shaken off an injury sustained while on international duty and thus could line up alongside Ronaldo, who’s expected to slot right into the starting XI. As for Newcastle, they’ll be missing quite a few people, with Callum Wilson, Martin Dubravka, Jonjo Shelvey, Ryan Fraser and Elliott Anderson all out due to injuries, while there are major concerns about the fitness and availability of Isaac Hayden, Karl Darlow and Paul Dummett.
