Ronaldo reunites with Atletico Madrid but Suarez on the bench

Madrid, Feb 23, 2022 (AFP) - Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo started against a familiar foe in Atletico Madrid on Wednesday in the first leg of the Champions League last 16.

Ronaldo has scored 25 goals in 35 games against Atletico, the majority of those for Real Madrid, although the Portuguese also struck a hat-trick against Diego Simeone's side for Juventus in 2019.

Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho also started for United while Victor Lindelof was preferred to Diogo Dalot and Aaron Wan-Bissaka in defence.

Simeone made the bold call to drop Luis Suarez to the bench, with Joao Felix and Angel Correa starting up front for Atletico Madrid. Antoine Griezmann was also named among the substitutes.

Atletico Madrid (3-5-2)

Jan Oblak; Stefan Savic, Jose Gimenez, Reinildo Mandava; Sime Vrsaljko, Marcos Llorente, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Hector Herrera, Renan Lodi; Angel Correa, Joao Felix

Coach: Diego Simeone (ARG)

Manchester United (3-4-1-2)

David De Gea; Raphael Varane, Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire; Jadon Sancho, Fred, Paul Pogba, Luke Shaw; Bruno Fernandes; Marcus Rashford, Cristiano Ronaldo

Coach: Ralf Rangnick (GER)

Referee: Ovidiu Hategan (ROM)

ta/jc