“Full focus on getting first place” - Cristiano Ronaldo sends rallying cry to Manchester United teammates ahead of Real Sociedad clash

Manchester United superstar Cristiano Ronaldo sent a rallying cry to his teammates ahead of the Red Devils' UEFA Europa League clash against Real Sociedad on Thursday, 3 October.

United will face Sociedad in Spain in the last game of the competition's group stages. The Spanish outfit won the first meeting between the two teams at Old Trafford by a margin of 1-0.

Ronaldo started the game. However, the Portuguese was rather ineffective. That said, he scored in United's latest Europa League win against FC Sheriff last week.

The strike marked Ronaldo's third goal of the season. He has now urged his teammates to give it their all to get a positive result against Sociedad.

The forward wrote on his Instagram story:

"Back to Spain, with the mind always set on winning and our full focus on getting the first place in our group. Let's fo Devils! We are United."

Spain is of course the country where Cristiano Ronaldo enjoyed the most glittering spell of his career. He had an extraordinary stint with Real Madrid.

After a brief spell at Juventus, he returned to Manchester United last season. While he has struggled under Erik ten Hag so far this season, it might be a scary proposition for other teams when the five-time Ballon d'Or winner finds his form back.

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag marked Cristiano Ronaldo as a leader

Manchester United attacker Cristiano Ronaldo.

Cristiano Ronaldo has always possessed great leadership qualities. Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag recently acknowledged the fact as he told the media ahead of his team's clash against Real Sociedad (via manutd.com):

"First of all, to talk about his feelings, you have to ask him, not me. But he is really professional, he's in the group, he's an important part of this group. He's a leader type and as you know in Spain, he's a threat to every defence and you always have to keep an eye on him because every gap he will use."

Ten Hag further lauded Casemiro, saying:

"I said it the other day. For me he is the cement between the stones, in and out of possession. You see him growing from game to game and with that, also, our team is growing.

"So, we are really happy with the progress but also we have to keep that process going because we are not satisfied. We have to approach it like good is not good enough. Tomorrow we have another challenge and another test to do it better."