188th Manchester Derby: Ronaldo set to start, seeks first derby goal in 13 years

Cristiano Ronaldo may be handed a rare start against Manchester City with injury doubts in attack for Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag.

The Portugal international has not started a Premier League match since the 4-0 defeat to Brentford earlier in the season.

Ronaldo asked to leave Old Trafford in the summer, but a move away from the club failed to materialise.

Ten Hag has opted to field Marcus Rashford up front in most games, and the forward has found the back of the net three times in six league matches.

However, Rashford picked up a muscle injury in the 3-1 win over Arsenal earlier this month and is a doubt for the Manchester derby on Sunday.

Anthony Martial, meanwhile, is in a similar position having also not trained fully this week with the rest of the squad.

Martial has been absent for United’s last five matches due to a problem with his Achilles.

Should Rashford and Martial fail to return for the City match, Ronaldo could be in line to return to the starting XI, according to the Telegraph.

If he plays, the former Real Madrid star will be seeking to score his first Derby goal since May 2009 when he scored Manchester United’s first goal in a 2-0 win at Old trafford.

Since that time, Ronaldo has featured just once in two games after he returned to the club from Serie A side, Juventus.

He was on for all 90 minutes when the red Devils were whipped 2-0 at Old Trafford in November 2021 by their bitter rivals.

A hip flexor injury kept Ronaldo out of the reverse fixture at the Etihad in March last year with the homers smashing the Red Devils 4-1.