Cristiano Ronaldo leaves Portugal duty to begin quarantine in England

Cristiano Ronaldo has left the Portugal camp early to undergo the five-day isolation period needed before he can join up with Manchester United.

Ronaldo sealed his £20m return to Old Trafford on deadline day but is yet to link up with his new teammates as he has been away with Portugal, where he became the leading scorer in the history of men's international football when he bagged his 111th goal in Wednesday's 2-1 win over Ireland.

In celebrating that goal, Ronaldo removed his shirt and was shown a yellow card which, when added to the yellow he received earlier in Portugal's qualification campaign, has earned him a one-game suspension for the country's next competitive game against Azerbaijan on September 7.

Ronaldo would have been eligible for Saturday's friendly against Qatar, but the Portuguese Football Federation took to their official website to confirm that he had been released from the team's training camp to prepare for life back in Manchester.

This comes after RTP revealed that Ronaldo would need to undergo a five-day quarantine period before he will be permitted to join up with United.

Being being released from Portugal duty early, Ronaldo will be able to get himself to United training earlier than initially planned and should be ready to make his second debut for the club in the meeting with Newcastle United on September 11.

"I have a fantastic history with this amazing club," Ronaldo told the club's website ahead of his return. "I was there at 18 years old and of course I’m so happy to be back home after 12 years. So I’m really glad and looking forward to start my first game.

“I moved from Juve now to Manchester, it’s a new chapter, I’m so happy and glad, and I want to carry on again, to make history, to try to help Manchester achieve great results, to win trophies and number one of them, to win great things."

Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has already confirmed that he sees Ronaldo as a central striker, but with Mason Greenwood in such a rich vein of form in front of goal, the boss will have a decision to make when it comes to who stars the game.