Cristiano Ronaldo makes Real Madrid squad for Uefa Super Cup against Manchester United

Cristiano Ronaldo has been included in Real Madrid squad for the Uefa Super Cup against Manchester United on Tuesday (8 August) even though the Ballon D'or winner has only recently returned to training. Zinedine Zidane has meanwhile promoted his son Luca and right-back Achraf Hakimi from the second team to complete his 24-man group.

Ronaldo, 32, has missed Los Blancos' pre-season tour in the United States after being given an extended break following his participation in the Confederations Cup with Portugal.

The former United hero scored 42 goals during last season and such a contribution has been badly missed by Real during pre-season, with Los Blancos failing to win any of their four friendlies in normal time.

Zidane's side lost to United [on penalties], Manchester City [4-1] and Barcelona [3-2] before needing a penalty shootout to beat a Major League Soccer's All-Star side in their last game of the pre-season tour of the USA.

And the Real boss has decided to take Ronaldo to Skopje despite the world footballer of the year only resuming training on Saturday [5 August].

However, reports in Spain suggest that Ronaldo won't be risked as the game with United comes just days before the two-legged Spanish Super Cup against Barcelona to be play on 13 and 16 August.

Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema should lead the attack while Zidane could play an extra midfield to form a 4-4-2 formation. Isco and young Marco Asensio are the main options after the former established himself in the starting line-up during the second part of last season while covering the absences of Bale.

Sergio Ramos and Toni Kroos missed part of pre-season due to different fitness problems but both played in the last game of the tour of the US and are expected to start against United.

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Luca Zidane and 18-year-old Achraf Hakimi are the main surprises of Los Blancos' 24-man squad for the Super Cup final. The former will serve as the third choice 'keeper behind Keylor Navas and Kiko Casilla while the latter could have a chance to prove himself in the coming season following the departure of Danilo to Manchester City.