Cristiano Ronaldo will lead the line for Manchester United against Leicester City after the international break.
Edinson Cavani’s late arrival back from the Uruguay game the day prior means the South American will not be in contention to play.
When Ronaldo made his United return against Newcastle last month it was against a familiar opponent, who he had 11 goal contributions against in 11 games.
Leicester City are a different proposition for Ronaldo. The Portuguese star only played against the Foxes once.
Leicester were relegated in the 2003/04 season, Ronaldo’s first campaign in the Premier League.
In the first game between the two sides that season Ronaldo was an unused substitute as United won 4-1 in a game at Leicester’s old ground, Filbert Street.
This upcoming game on October 16 will be held at the King Power Stadium, a ground Ronaldo has never played at in a competitive game.
Ronaldo’s one and only previous competitive game against Leicester
Ronaldo played once against Leicester in a 1-0 victory at Old Trafford in 2004.
This was the United XI: Roy Carroll; Wes Brown, John O’Shea, Mikael Silvestre, Gary Neville; Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes; Cristiano Ronaldo, David Bellion, Louis Saha, Diego Forlan.
Paul Scholes scored the winner with Gary Neville providing the assist, with Ronaldo playing all 90 minutes.
Leicester were managed by Micky Adams at the time and featured former United prospect Keith Gillespie as a substitute.
2021’s Leicester are a very different and and the Foxes remarkably won the title more recently than Manchester United, back in 2016.
An unfamiliar opponent will be a fresh challenge for Ronaldo and United will be keen to avenge last season’s FA Cup quarter-final defeat in next weekend’s upcoming match.
But what about…
There was one other experience Ronaldo had against Leicester City. This came in a Real Madrid shirt.
Real played Leicester in pre-season in 2011 at the King Power Stadium. So the venue for the upcoming game won’t be entirely unfamiliar.
Ronaldo’s Real went up against a Leicester side still in the Championship managed at the time by Sven Goran Eriksson. He featured as a second half substitute.
The United star was not on the scoresheet, with Jose Callejon and Karim Benzema scoring for Real before Lloyd Dyer netted a late consolation.
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