By Jim Gracey

30 July 2006Feuding Manchester United team-mates Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo will come face to face tomorrow for the first time since their World Cup bust-up.

Old Trafford boss Sir Alex Ferguson expects peace to be declared with a handshake as the pair get together again for pre-season duty.

They could even be pitched into action straight away tomorrow night, sparking a media and crowd frenzy for United’s otherwise run-of-the-mill local derby friendly against lowly Macclesfield.

Fergie last night confirmed Rooney would play after watching a depleted United side go down 2-1 at Preston.

Rooney has been pestering his manager for a game since returning to training last Monday.

The England striker has been champing at the bit to get back since his World Cup dream ended in disgrace with his controversial red card against Portugal – and Ronaldo fingered with the blame by furious English fans and media.

But master of the mind games Fergie has been holding fired-up Rooney back for the psychologically significant return of Ronaldo.

Rooney has already publicly cleared his clubmate of guilt for his sending off, after infamously shoving Ronaldo for demanding action over his stamp on Portuguese rival Carvalho as England crashed out in Germany.

Now Ferguson is hoping the sight of the two together again on the same training ground, and ready to line up side by side, will send out the powerful message of a United front for the new season.

Ronaldo’s Old Trafford future still hangs in the balance over fears he could become a hate figure for rival fans and reported interest from Real Madrid.

But his chances of a move there may have been ironically dashed by Ruud van Nistelrooy’s switch to the Spanish giants after the Dutch striker’s hugely public fallout with Ferguson was sparked by another in-house clash – with Ronaldo.

With £15million Michael Carrick set to be unveiled at Old Trafford tomorrow, it all adds up to the most momentous day in United’s summer so far.

http://www.sundaylife.co.uk/sport/story.jsp?story=700469

http://www.ronaldofansite.com/cristiano

 

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 30th, 2006 at 12:57 pm and is filed under cris ronaldo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.