Cristiano Ronaldo will start on the bench against Brighton

Manchester United have announced their line-up ahead of their Premier League first game of the season against Braighton & Hove Albion. The thing that stood out the most, was Cristiano Ronaldo’s absence on the team sheet. Although this comes a surprise to some people, Erik ten Hag did say two days ago that this could happen.

After the starting eleven was confirmed, the new manager was interviewed by Shamoon Hafez from BBC Sport. The reported asked the Dutchman about his decision of benching Cristiano Ronaldo, to which he answered: “Ronaldo is working really hard to get in the right fitness levels, it will take time. He started pre-season last week. It depends on how quick he is progressing”.

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The former Ajax coach also added that Manchester United is not about individualities, but about teamwork: “We should act as a team. I want to see a team performance every game, that is the most important. Football is a team sport”.

A new era at Manchester United

This will be Erik ten Hag’s first starting eleven as the ‘Red Devils’ boss: David De Gea, Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martínez, Luke Shaw, Fred, McTominay, Bruno Fernandes, Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Christian Eriksen. this means two out of the three new signings will make their debut with the team as Tyrell Malacia is benched.