Manchester United: Marcos Rojo happy to return from injury layoff, thanks wife and children for support

Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo has revealed he is happy to have the "feeling of playing on the pitch again" and thanks his wife and children for their support during a lengthy injury layoff.

The Argentine international suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury in the Europa League clash against Anderlecht in April. He went under the knife and has been on the sidelines continuing his recovery.

Rojo returned to the pitch for the first time by playing 45 minutes for the Red Devils' Under-23 side against Spanish side Atheltic Bilbao in the Premier League International Cup at Leigh Sports Village on 15 November.

The former Sporting defender stressed it was "difficult" to be away from the pitch and went on to thank his family and everyone at the club in helping him recover from the knee injury.

"At last finally the day came. I want to first of all thank my wife and my two children that were always with me in this difficult time," Rojo posted on his official Instagram page.

"I want to thank all the people at the club @manchesterunited who have been with me since day one. Thank you all very much. Happy to have this feeling of playing on the pitch again. Now I continue working."

Rojo travelled with the United squad to face Benfica in the Champions League and Chelsea in the league clash at Stamford Bridge. However, he failed to make it to the match day squad for both the fixtures.

United manager Jose Mourinho was earlier hoping the South American versatile defender would be available for selection after the international break in November. Rojo has set his sights on returning to first team action in December.

"In three weeks, we have a Champions League game that, if all goes well tomorrow, I could play in that," the Argentine was quoted as saying by the Manchester Evening News.