Cristiano Ronaldo 'confident of facing Manchester United'

Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo is reportedly confident of avoiding an extended ban for his sending-off against Valencia in Wednesday's Champions League tie.

The £99m summer signing was given his marching orders half an hour into his side's 2-0 win at the Mestalla for pulling the hair of defender Jeison Murillo.

Ronaldo will serve a mandatory one-match suspension, ruling him out of Juve's next European game at home to Young Boys in a fortnight, but The Express reports that he is still in contention to face former club Manchester United.

That is because UEFA has supposedly already reviewed the incident and decided that it is not worthy of a two-or-three match ban, leaving the Portugal international free to play in the double-header against the Red Devils.

UEFA will make an official announcement next Thursday, which will also take referee Felix Brych's report into consideration.