Cristiano Ronaldo back in Manchester United side to face Southampton

Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United, Siuuuu celebration
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Cristiano Ronaldo is back in the Manchester United team to face Southampton as the Portuguese looks to bring an end to his longest goal drought in 12 years.

Ronaldo was surprisingly benched for United's trip to Burnley and although he came on in the second half, he did not looked pleased with the situation and stormed straight down the tunnel at Turf Moor when the full-time whistle came to signal a disappointing 1-1 draw for his side.

But the strop has not affected his standing in the team and he was recalled to the line-up by interim coach Ralf Rangnick.

Ronaldo's failure to score against Burnley meant he had failed to score in his last five  matches, his longest spell without a goal in club football since 2010, when he was settling in to life with Real Madrid.

He will be extra-motivated to stop the rot against Southampton although Ralph Hasenhuttl's side will be in a confident mood after pulling off an impressive 3-2 win at Tottenham on Wednesday.

Manchester United team to face Southampton

David De Gea; Diogo Dalot, Raphael Varane, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw; Scott McTominay, Paul Pogba; Bruno Fernandes, Jadon Sancho, Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcus Rashford.

Southampton's line-up

Fraser Forster; Kyle Walker-Peters, Jan Bednarek, Mohammed Salisu, Romain Perraud; Stuart Armstrong, Oriol Romeu, James Ward-Prowse; Mohamed Elyounoussi, Che Adams, Armando Broja.

Richard Martin is an experienced football writer, editor and social media producer. Before returning to London, he spent 10 years in Spain as a football correspondent and has attended over 600 games across 16 countries, his favourite being Argentina. He has also worked for Reuters, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Times and AS.