Cristiano Ronaldo set for Real Madrid return against Manchester United

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jul/30/cristiano-ronaldo-real-madrid-manchester-united

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Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo is recovering well from his knee injury and may return to action in Saturday’s friendly against his former club Manchester United in Detroit, according to the Spanish club’s manager, Carlo Ancelotti.

The Portugal captain and world player of the year has been hampered by a left-knee problem in recent months and was clearly below his best at the World Cup in Brazil, where the Portuguese failed to progress beyond the group stage.

“He [Ronaldo] did two sessions today and he is working well on his own,” Ancelotti said at a news conference on Tuesday after Real were beaten 1-0 by Roma in a friendly at the International Champions Cup in Dallas. “Let’s see if in the next few days he can train with the team and can play against Manchester,” added the Italian. “We have to be careful, right now we have to be calm.”

Ancelotti will be hoping Ronaldo regains full fitness in time for the European champions’ first competitive fixture of the 2014-15 season, the European Super Cup game against their La Liga rivals and Europa League winners Sevilla in Cardiff on 12 August.

Real have strengthened their squad with the purchase of the Colombia playmaker James Rodríguez and Germany’s World Cup-winning midfielder Toni Kroos, and Ancelotti said there might be more movement before the transfer window closes at the end of August. Media reports in Spain have said Real are looking to sign the Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas from Levante.

“We have to think about the players who are at Real Madrid at the moment,” Ancelotti said when asked about the transfer market. “The market ends on August 31 and a lot of things could happen but we have to focus on those [players] that we have.”