Manchester United vs Rayo Vallecano LIVE: Erik ten Hag has to settle for draw in his final friendly

MANCHESTER United supporters showed they are largely ready to forgive Cristiano Ronaldo on his Old Trafford return although his 45-minute cameo said little about his future under new boss Erik ten Hag.

The Portuguese icon played the first half of the final warm-up game before United kick off their new season against Brighton next Sunday.

And his half-time replacement, youngster Amad Diallo, took just two minutes to open the scoring against the mid-table La Liga outfit.

Cristiano Ronaldo made his first appearance for United since decision to leave the club

But Ronaldo, who last played any sort of football for United 85 days ago, was welcomed back by most of a near-capacity Old Trafford crowd, as part of a largely inexperienced Reds line-up.

The jeers drowned out a smattering off boos that greeted Ronaldo’s name being announced twice before kick-off.

And, despite a couple of sloppy early touches, the 37-year-old quickly grew into the speed of the game although he missed his team’s best chance of the first half, blazing over after good work from Donny van de Beek.

Amad Diallo nets United’s opener during the 1-1 draw with Royal Vallecano at Old Trafford 

Ronaldo’s announcement on Friday that he was playing against Vallecano had led to a sharp rise in ticket sales.

And there was no shortage of “Ronaldo 7” shirts and banners bearing his name on show among a crowd who were in a carnival mood.

But it took all of nine seconds for United’s second string to almost concede, with Tom Heaton forced to make a sharp save from Alvaro Garcia.

And the “friendly” hardly lived up to its name on the half-hour when Vallecano fans let off a red flare and police waded in to rip down a large banner draped over the stand by Spanish supporters.

Amad finally gave fans something to really cheer about, barely two minutes after coming on, when he reacted first when Diego Lopez made a mess of dealing with an Alex Telles drive and rammed the ball into the open net.

But almost immediately, the visitors could have been level when former Red Radamel Falcao hit the cross-bar with a terrific effort.

On 57 minutes, the Spanish side did snatch a deserved equaliser when Heaton could only get a hand to a shot from Isaac Palazon Camacho and Alvaro Garcia netted from a tight angle.

Summer signings Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez were taken off after an hour, with ten Hag clearly wanting to factor them into his squad plans for the big kick-off.

But that duo appear to be the only players on duty yesterday in with even a remote chance of starting against Brighton next weekend, with the bulk of ten Hag’s starting line-up having been on duty in Saturday’s defeat against Atletico.

Jadon Sancho, who missed the game in Oslo, was still absent through illness against Vallecano, along with Luke Shaw and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, with that trio fighting a losing battle to be match fit for the start of the campaign.

The Ivorian attacker scored just three minutes after being subbed on for Cristiano Ronaldo 

Follow Sportsmail’s live coverage of the pre-season friendly between Manchester United and Rayo Vallecano