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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Daniel Murphy

Raphael Varane explains what Cristiano Ronaldo will bring to Manchester United

Raphael Varane believes Cristiano Ronaldo will bring a "rage to win" to Manchester United.

In a whirlwind final few days of the transfer window, United managed to pull off the unthinkable as they brought Ronaldo back to Old Trafford 12 years on from his departure.

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner returned to action at Old Trafford for the first time in a red jersey on Saturday and scored twice in a 4-1 win over Newcastle United.

His first was a simple tap-in after the goalkeeper had spilt the ball, but his second was a trademark Ronaldo finish after receiving the ball on the run and firing it through the keeper's legs.

It hasn't made quite as many headlines, but the game was also Varane's first at Old Trafford since his £34million move from Real Madrid in the summer.

The centre-back was teammates with Ronaldo for seven years at the Bernabeu and is happy to be playing alongside him again, explaining that he will bring a winning mentality to the team.

"Playing with the best is a great pleasure," the Frenchman told TeleFoot. "Cristiano is a great professional, physically he is always at the top, he always has this quality of finish.

"What he will bring to Manchester United is his rage to to win, his winning mentality."

After the match, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer revealed he had no doubt that Ronaldo would make an impact upon his return.

"I don't think so," Solskjaer said when asked if he had any doubts about Ronaldo's effectiveness. "He does what he does. Cristiano lifts everyone, gets everyone so focused when he's around the place, he puts demands on himself which puts demands on his teammates and demands on us, and that's why he's done so much in his career, he's been so disciplined.

"He's evolved, he's a developed as a player, he's a different type of player to when he left but he's still a ruthless and clinical goalscorer, and he smells the big moments. He scents when there's a goal."

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