So is Ronaldo coming back home next summer?

There is speculation that Cristiano Ronaldo will leave Madrid to return to Manchester United soon

What could be an ideal Christmas present for a Manchester United, apart from Liverpool being positioned below United in the Barclays Premier League table?

It would undoubtedly be the acquisition of Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid. However, pundits feel that this may not happen so soon, but will surely take place. Spanish football expert Guillem Balague reckons 'everything is in place' for CR7 to make a comeback at United. We put together 3 main reasons why this could happen in the coming transfer window(s):

Unhappy Ronaldo

1. Ronaldo is clearly unhappy at Real Madrid with the departure of his close peers Mesut Ozil to Arsenal (2013), Xabi Alonso to Bayern Munich (2014) and Angel di Maria (2014). Real Madrid's performance so far in the La Liga has been dismal  (placed 13th with only 1 win in 3 games) partly due to the exit of Xabi and di Maria. There is a sense of disbelief in Real Madrid's intent this season and Ronaldo certainly wouldn't like to play for a club on a decline. United on the other side is re-inventing itself and Ronaldo would be happy to be at a club where he belongs more. 

2. Manchester United have their finances in place and have regained their buying power. Who could how thought they would be able to sign 6 new players in the 2014 summer transfer window including the likes of Radamel Falcao, Angel di Maria and Ander Herrera. Gary Neville recently made a statement about how surprised and happy he was at United's recent signings "We sat here three or four months ago deliberating over whether Manchester United could attract world-class talent. They have absolutely smashed that question out of the water". He also said that the arrival of Falcao and di Maria has made it "more possible" for Ronaldo to now follow the suit. Manchester United spent a staggering £170m in the recent transfer window; crossing the rumoured £150m budget set by the Glazer family. United is definitely on a spending spree.

Happier times

3. Ronaldo wants to fulfil his dream of coming back and playing for Manchester United. CR7 was only aged 24 when he made a switch to Real Madrid. He was still a boy back then, full of ambitious dreams and had a lot to prove to the world. Five years later, breaking records after records and bagging around 15 accolades including the Fifa Ballon d'Or and UEFA Best Player in Europe award in 2014, CR7 has achieved almost everything he could have possibly desired. He has talked so much about missing Manchester and Old Trafford in the last 12-18 months that it is bluntly obvious that he now wants to come back home. 

OK, so what if this deal does go through - how much will the possession of Cristiano Ronaldo cost Manchester United?

Ronaldo was sold to Real Madrid for a record price of £80m (crossing the historic €100m mark). In 2013, he signed a lengthy 5 year contract which ties him to the current European champions till June, 2018. His current weekly salary is £300,000. If Ronaldo's club decides to sell him off next year, when he still will have 3 more years to play, there is seriously a good chance for Real Madrid to cash in. Experts are arguing anything between £50-£60m would be a bargain for Manchester United. As far as the wages go, it would be no less than £300,000 a week. Can Manchester United afford him is entirely a different question. They will surely have to get rid of a few under-performing players such as Anderson, Cleverley, Fellaini and Young. 

Clearly Real Madrid fans would absolutely agonise if Ronaldo is allowed to leave the club and there is no replacement lined up. Could that replacement be Radamel Falcao? Falcao has made his feelings about the Madrid club clear and would like a move despite his time at rivals Athletico Madrid. Falcao and Ronaldo share their agent in Jorge Mendes and maybe this was all planned in order to lure Ronaldo back by United? Falcao is currently on a loan deal at United with an option of a buy-out at the end of the season from Athletico Madrid. A swap of clubs for Falcao and Ronaldo would be a good negotiating tool for Manchester United.

The benefits Cristiano Ronaldo can bring to Manchester United are endless. His signing will easily sell a million t-shirts upon arrival at Old Trafford. Assuming a United t-shirt still costs around £50 next year, his arrival will generate £50million in merchandise sales itself. Ronaldo's presence may hinder the selection of young players like Adnan Januzaj and Jesse Lingard in the Playing XI, but then they will a huge opportunity to learn from the Portugese superstar. His signing will also undoubtedly increase United's global fan following.

So what Jersey number will Cristiano Ronaldo wear if he makes a move to the Red Manchester club?

What Really went Wrong?

Summary of the game

Did NANI deserve to be sent off?

The stage was set. A 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu was in some ways a superb result, but a monumental task lay ahead. With Real Madrid hitting 'Form' right at the crucial time, the signs for united were anonymous.

But as Sir Alex mentioned, one should not overlook the threats posed by the excellent United attack amid all the hype surrounding the 'los galacticos' , especially the return of Uniteds prodigal son - Cristiano Ronaldo.

As the team news filtered out, the first shock of the night arrived. No Wayne Rooney. How? When? Why? Manchester United without Wayne Rooney? Especially after his cracking strike over the weekend? what was Fergie thinking? were some of the queries that jumped into mind. But the blind faith built up into United fans that anything Sir Alex does is correct, silenced these questions. After all he is the 'Boss'. The 'special one' himself was a bit coy, talking about his future and other stuff that makes the British media swoon around him like flies near a defecating horse. Oh well.

Kick Off arrived. Old Trafford was like a cauldron filled with red hot fire. The atmosphere was electric, the fans were jumping, flags, mosaics.... it was a sight to behold. No wonder every footballer who has set foot in Old Trafford talks fondly about it. The stadium was rocking. The stage was set.

The match followed a familiar pattern. United sat deep, allowed Madrid to attack. When the play broke, the trio of Nani, Welbeck and Van Persie caused havoc. With Carrick and the excellent Giggs orchestrating the play, United looked a real threat whereas Madrid's attacks pattered out without any fire. The first half ended with United having the front foot, but not having scored the deserved goal. The crowd were getting a little uneasy, but the game so far had shown that United could progress. and that was proved right shortly into the second half. Again havoc was caused inside the Real Madrid penalty area, with Van Persie and Welbeck having shots saved, but Nani recovered the ball and swept in a cross, which, via double deflection off Welbeck and Sergio Ramos, went into the net. United were all set to book a place in the quarters, with an excellent attacking and containing performance. Then pandemonium struck.

The turning point of the game                                    

The ball was cleared and Nani, innocuously looking over his shoulder, ran into Alvaro Arbeloa, who dropped like a hand grenade. foul? a talking to? a yellow maybe? Straight RED. Ah well. Flashback to the Rafael red vs Munich? What followed was astonishing. Sir Alex could not believe it. He barged into the fourth official, who had no explanation. Above all, regarding Nani, I don't for a second believe that he meant to kick Alvaro Arbeloa. What he did was reckless and dangerous and without doubt worthy of a caution, but he did not have any thought along the lines of 'I'm going to hurt someone here'. Not thinking about what you do and actually hurting someone is practically a definition of the word 'reckless.'

Even if referees - and refereeing bodies - feel that this sort of thing is worthy of dismissal, I honestly think they are missing a trick by not involving players in the discussion. You can tell by their body language that no Real Madrid players were expecting nor demanding a red card. Players think differently to referees - in fact they also think differently to fans - and they have an instinctive feel for fair play, for the most part. I feel certain that if 1,000 players were polled, from all corners of the earth, that at least 90% would say this deserves a caution at most. And the surprising bit was the Turkish referee (Cuneyt Cakir), when looked up at twitter, followed only Real Madrid and Barcelona. And, this is the same guy who -

· Showed John Terry Red card vs Barcelona

· Showed John Terry a red vs Barcelona

Does this mean the referee did that on purpose? I'll leave it up to you to decide.

The result? United lost, even after a great push towards the end.
Did United deserve to lose? No.
Did United deserve to win? We will never know.
Did Real deserve to go through over the two legs? No(opinions may differ).
But in the end, it shows that no matter how much you prepare, if it isn't meant to be, then it wont happen.

The feeling of being hard done by will always prevail, but we are United. We will come back stronger and better. Believe.

Hope Dortmund go on to lift the Champions League.

                                

--

Aby

Rio: "I will become a manager and have Gary as my assistant"

Speaking to sabotagetimes.com, Rio Ferdinand has admitted that he won't play abroad like his international team mate David Beckham before retiring, rather he would love to end his career at Old Trafford only. "I won't be playing abroad, this is me. I am at ManUnited and I love it here. Why take a step backwards?"

Rio also said that he would love to become a manager after he retires from professional football and have Gary Neville as his No.2. ""Gary Neville would be perfect for my assistant's post. He'd cross the T's and dot the I's."

Ferdinand added that former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler is the best finisher he has ever seen in his lifetime. "Robbie Fowler, Solskjaer, Ruud and Ian Wright are the best. I'd say Robbie was definitely the most natural, he could do it from anywhere, inside the box, long range, headers. It's a huge shame that he had so many injuries because he was a great striker and a great lad. He came to Leeds and settled straight away, and was good fun to be around when we went away with England. He's not known as God for nothing."

As for his hardest opponent, Ferdinand said, "Raul and Zidane were difficult because of the positions they took up, it was hard to know whether to track them or wait for them to come on. Physically, I'd say Mark Hughes and Kevin Davies. With Hughes the ball would be running towards the touchline, I'd be looking to clear down the line and if he was steaming over, I knew I'd be heading into the crowd with a few stud marks for good measure."

And he believes Cristiano Ronaldo is the best played alongside, adding: "Ronaldo is my favourite player of the current era by a mile. If he stays clear of injury I think he'll be up there as one of the best of all time."

CR7 wants to come back to Manchester United? Homer would love it!!

God! what a personality he is!

Cristiano Ronaldo is sick and tired of Real Madrid already, he is not finding the end of the net often and he may move back to Manchester United next Summer.

Now that Antonio Valencia is injured till February, would Bebe fill the void? VIDEO will tell why he will!

Bebe: Earlier and NOW (on RIght) Plenty has changed over a few weeks and Bebe looks a tough man.. He scored against Macedonia U-21 with Portugal U-21 and had a fine time with the Reserves team yesterday.

It was a tough start to Bebe's career with the Manchester United's reserve team last night against Aston Villa as the game ended in a dissapointing defeat.

BEBE REVIEWED

Bebe's reserves Debut against Aston Villa, Match Highlights, 4-1 defeat.

The £7m signing from Portugal played the whole game in a devastating 4-1 defeat against a strong team in the reserves academy. I judged him inside out, he looks terrific but not quite ready for the first team yet. He was a nightmare for the defenders, crossing the ball really superbly.

Gabriel Obertan played on the other wing and Bebe on the right wing - typical Antonio Valencia position or would say Sir Ryan Gigg's spot! He was really awesome with his feet, was able to confuse the defenders very elegantly. I loved the dribbling - simply awesome.

The energy he showed in his crosses was fabulous, the only one thing I am worried about at the moment is the shot accuracy and his stamina. Hope he lives upto his hype. Other than that, a fine possessor of the football, he really owns the skills of a famous footballer - the style.

I reckon he will fill in the void of Antonio Valencia easily, if he keeps doing it till the end of the season for United, he may as well be considered Manchester United's another Cristiano Ronaldo. They are both Portugese after all! I don't know how Portugese are taught football in their country but I sincerely love it. First ronaldo, then Nani and now Bebe? Will United find a great player in him after giving him chances in the upcoming games? Time will tell... But here at TheReDevilSpot, we wish the lad all the best, hope he makes the most of his limited chances at Old Trafford and at the same time impress millions of Manchester United fans and Manchester United haters.

I'd like to rate his performance a nice 8/10 for the Thursday night. Let's hope he keeps on delivering it.

The Portugese who once had a dreadlock had to suffer a warning from Sir Alex over the allowed haircuts at Old Trafford, mind you Sir Alex is pretty damn strict over the player's dressing sense and hair cuts. Bebe recently scored against Macedonia U-21, by a rather fluke goal. The ball literally went in between the legs of the goalie from outside the penalty box

The lad has had an extra-ordinary footballing time in Portugal but living on streets has hit him like anything..

Now that he's at Old Trafford, he's at the theatre of dreams! The portugese has every opportunity to become someone everyone would know. He can now his dream - to become a rocking footballer. 

Now that the Ecuadorean - Antonio Valencia is injured till February 2010 (Manchester United confirmed today), Sir Alex will obviously look for other players to fill the void. The options he would have are 1) Gabriel Obertan 2) Cleverley (when he comes back from Newcastle United) 3) Nani 4) Park 5) Giggs - he can move around..  But in my opinion Obertan and Bebe are supposed to fill the void.

The portugese would not be offered this place easily. He has to show he is fit, has the right state of  mind and most importantly has the stamina to stay on for 90 minutes!

Yo, I will sort out my dreadlock but can you hear me Sir Alex?