Cristiano Ronaldo will start for Manchester United against Sheriff Tiraspol and remains a vital member of the Portugal squad despite his lack of Premier League minutes, manager Fernando Santos has declared.
The Red Devils take on Moldovan outfit Sheriff in their second Europa League group-stage game on Thursday evening. Erik ten Hag's side are in need of a positive result after falling to a 1-0 defeat at home by Real Sociedad last week.
They cannot take Sheriff for granted, as the minnows beat Cypriot club Omonia 3-0 in their continental opener and memorably defeated Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu last season. Ronaldo was handed a rare start against Sociedad and Santos claims he will keep his place in the line-up despite failing to score against the Spaniards, seeing a fine goal disallowed for offside.
"I have no worries, he will play later, he will start against the Sheriff," Santos told reporters of Ronaldo on Thursday as he unveiled his squad to face Czech Republic and Spain in the Nations League over the next fortnight. The Portugal boss added: "I don't think anyone doubts that Cristiano Ronaldo continues to be important for the team."
Ronaldo is yet to get off the mark this season and his only start in domestic competition came in the 4-0 thrashing by Brentford in August. While Ten Hag may not be best pleased with Santos for revealing the superstar striker will start against Sheriff, this does come as much of a surprise given United's injury issues in attack.
Marcus Rashford has sustained a thigh issue which rules him out of the Europa League clash and the Englishman joins Anthony Martial in the treatment room as the latter recovers from a persistent achilles problem. This leaves Ten Hag light of options to play at centre-forward, so unleashing five-time Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo appears the most likely course of action.
How many goals will Cristiano Ronaldo score after a slow start to the season? Have your say in the comments!
The former Real Madrid and Juventus forward scored 24 goals in all competitions last season and Ten Hag will be hoping he rekindles his best form as United look to get their European campaign up and running. The Red Devils have shown marked improvement in their recent domestic encounters, putting a run of four wins together to recover from their sub-par start to the campaign.
However, they will need to wait until after the international break to build on their Premier League momentum as their derby against old rivals Leeds United has been postponed following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. It remains to be seen when the fixture will be rescheduled for, with the winter World Cup in Qatar complicating matters.
