Around 4,000 fans were at Old Trafford on Friday as Sir
Alex Ferguson and the United coaching staff put the first team
players through their paces on the pitch.
The session, which was open to the public, gave supporters their
first glimpse of new signing Tomasz Kuszczak and the chance to
welcome Cristiano Ronaldo back to Old Trafford. United's new Polish
international keeper looked comfortable in goal and even had his
new gloves Christened with a stinging Paul Scholes drive.
There was a warm welcome for Ronaldo as he jogged out onto the
pitch. He waved to fans before the session began and delighted the
crowd doing keepy-ups, tricks and his trademark stepovers. There
were various chants of his name from the crowd, to which the
21-year-old Portugal international responded with a
thumbs-up.
The training session involved a warm-up, a crossing and shooting
exercise before the players played in a 10-a-side match, with the
three goalkeepers rotating.
All the players on show took part in full training and the likes of
Nemanja Vidic and Alan Smith, who have been recovering from
injuries, and late arrivals following the World Cup such as
Ronaldo, Gabriel Heinze, Mikael Silvestre and Louis Saha, all
looked sharp and ready for action just eight days ahead of the
Premiership kick-off.
United play Fulham here at Old Trafford on Saturday 20 August. The
Reds face Sevilla on Saturday as the final warm-up match before the
new season begins.
Among the 21 players in training, there was no Wayne Rooney, Rio
Ferdinand, Gary Neville or Michael Carrick, who are all carrying
various knocks or injuries.
The players in training on Friday:
Goalkeepers: Van
der Sar, Kuszczak, Heaton.
Defenders: Brown, Vidic, Silvestre, Heinze, Evra,
Bardsley.
Midfielders: Ronaldo, Scholes, Park, Fletcher,
Miller, Giggs, OShea, Richardson.
Forwards: Saha, Rossi, Smith,
Solskjaer.
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