Florentino Perez confirms Cristiano Ronaldo will return to Real Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo's time as a Real Madrid player came to an end in the summer

Nine years after joining Real from Manchester United, Ronaldo departed for Juventus - his final appearance for Los Blancos coming in the Champions League final win over Liverpool. Ronaldo became the club's all-time leading goalscorer during his stint at the Bernabeu, also playing a key role in their four European Cup wins in five seasons. The 33-year-old appears to be adapting to life in Italy quite nicely having scored his third goal for Juve at the weekend, but Florentino Perez has promised he will one day return to Madrid.

"Cristiano has remained in the heart of all Madridistas," Real's 71-year-old president told El Chiringuito.

"If I saw him today I'd give him a big hug, he's the worthy heir to Alfredo Di Stefano. One day he'll return to Real Madrid."

Ronaldo is expected to start during Juve's Serie A encounter with Bologna on Wednesday night. So far, he's helped the Italian champions maintain a 100% start to the new campaign.  Napoli currently sit in second place in Italy's top flight, three points behind Juve. The two clubs meet in Turin on Saturday afternoon. After this, Massimiliano Allegri's men will return to Champions League action by hosting Younh Boys of Bern. They will be without Ronaldo  for the game with the Swiss champions after he was given a harsh red card in their game away at Valencia last week - a decision which reduced him to tears. Ronaldo is expected to receive a one-game suspension for the dismissal, freeing him up to make a return to Old Trafford next month.