Ronaldo’s “winning” return hands Man Utd major boost after injury absence

Cristiano Ronaldo has missed Man Utd’s last two matches, the FA Cup and Premier League clashes with Aston Villa, with a hip problem but has provided a positive update ahead of Wednesday’s Brentford fixture

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Ralf Rangnick provides Cristiano Ronaldo fitness update

Cristiano Ronaldo is back in training ahead of Manchester United’s rearranged fixture with Brentford on Wednesday.

Ronaldo missed United’s last two games, both against Aston Villa, in the FA Cup and Premier League, because of a hip problem that was causing him discomfort.

But United’s iconic No.7 is back in training with the United squad and set to travel to London for the clash, which was postponed on December 14 because of a Covid outbreak within Ralf Rangnick’s squad.

Ronaldo posted a picture on his official Twitter account with the caption “The winners are..” showing himself and team-mates including Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford, posing in a triumphant manner after winning a game in training.

Rashford missed Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Villa after suffering a dead leg, but looks to be back in contention for the Brentford game, while Pogba – out since November 2 – is still some way short of being available.

Ronaldo’s winning team consisted of seven United players, with interim boss Rangnick giving an insight into the benefit of the seven-a-side matches.

Rangnick lifted the lid on the small-sided matches that breed so much competition at Carrington and often produce victory photos that the players love to share with fans.

“We played seven against seven in a tournament with three teams,” said Rangnick.

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“The other week, we did the same with five versus five, so we do that, depending on the number of players that are available.

“I’m a big fan of doing that once per week, those kinds of competitions, because the players need to perform on a high level.

“The workload is good and you can see nobody can hide if you play seven v seven or five v five.

“Everyone has to show up. If he doesn’t do that, it becomes obvious for the head coach and the team members.”