On Sunday, Real Madrid and Barcelona square off in the 177th league edition of El Clasico, the greatest rivalry match in all of sports. Real leads the all-time series with 72 La Liga victories as compared to Barca’s 70 (the two sides have shared the spoils an additional 34 times), and the club from the Spanish capital desperately needs another victory to reduce the currently escalating gap in league play.
When Cristiano Ronaldo last went up against David de Gea, the Portuguese striker put three past the Spanish keeper in a virtuoso performance during the 2018 World Cup this summer. The Ronaldo vs de Gea matchup went in the opposite direction on Tuesday, with the latter making some impressive saves to deny the former.
Cristiano Ronaldo was full of flicks and tricks early on in his first visit to Old Trafford since joining Juventus. He made Ashley Young look silly with an early move and even had an admirer invade the pitch to see him (though he was tackled before he reached the former Manchester United winger.
Then Ronaldo made an actual imprint on the game, setting up Juventus’ first goal in the 17th minute.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s slow scoring start to the season was well documented. It took 322 minutes before the prolific striker finally found the back of the net.
Now he can’t stop scoring.
Ronaldo notched in his fifth goal of the Serie A campaign in the 18th minute against Genoa on Saturday to continue a superlative run of scoring — or basically what we’ve come to expect from the Portuguese winger.
On Tuesday, Oct. 23, Cristiano Ronaldo will return to Old Trafford for only the second time since making his 2009 then-world-record-transfer of nearly $110 million to the Santiago Bernabéu.
Ronaldo has played against Manchester United in three competitive matches over the following period — the 2012-13 Champions League Round of 16 and a brief, seven-minute cameo during the 2017 UEFA Super Cup in Macedonia.