Cristiano Ronaldo prepares for his 13th Manchester derby this week

Cristiano Ronaldo will play against Manchester City in the current season. Manchester United’s autumn match against their city rivals ended in a 0-2 home defeat. For Ronaldo, if he plays, it would be the 13th Manchester derby of his career.

Ronaldo’s record against the “Cityzens”

In the previous twelve occasions, Ronaldo celebrated against Manchester City five times winning the Premier League and once in the FA Cup. In these matches, he scored four goals and notched one assist for the Reds’ city rivals.

The last time Ronaldo scored in a Red jersey against Manchester City was in United’s 2008/09 Championship season two rounds before the end of the competition, when he set United on the way to a 2-0 victory with his first goal in the 17th minute of the first half.

In the Champions League for Real Madrid of Spain, Ronaldo faced City four times, of which he was not defeated once (twice coming away victorious) and scored once.

Back in Manchester

Cristiano Ronaldo started the autumn after his return to United in style, scoring fourteen goals in eighteen games. However, in the new year, he is not scoring as much, which is attributed, among other things, to the game overload of this great footballer.

Proof that the number 7 player is not doing so well in this calendar year is his goals scored statistics, as he has only hit the Brighton net once.

Also, so far, the last game against Watford proves that he is not falling into the opponents’ net. He did hit the bar as early as the 4th minute, and in the 15th minute he was disallowed for offside, but in the end he came out goalless in the match, just like the whole United team. The match ended 0:0.

So the question for United coach Ralf Rangick is whether Ronaldo has too much on his shoulders, especially in the proverbial “English weeks”. ” Edinson [Cavani] is not available. We don’t have many other centre-forwards.”

Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford or Jesse Lingard are being offered as replacements for Ronaldo. However, they are more suited to the depth of the midfield or the edge of the midfield than to the position of a classic centre-forward.

This week is only the second in a row in the new calendar year for United not to play two games. Therefore, Reds fans are hoping that the shooting form of the more rested Cristiano Ronaldo will come back to life in the city derby.

For they have West Ham breathing down their necks from fifth place in the table. Moreover, if Manchester United do not qualify for next year’s Champions League, their biggest star could leave in the summer.

Jürgen Klopp and his squad and all Liverpool fans will surely be watching the next game at the Etihad Stadium closely as well. The team from Anfield Road is only 3 points behind City in the table and United are one of the few teams, given the draw, who have a realistic chance on paper to turn their rival in the title fight for the all-important points.

Source: Manchester United, Trasnfermarkt