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• Ronaldo: 'You cannot rebuild Man United without knowledge'

  Cristiano Ronaldo believes Manchester United "cannot rebuild without knowledge" as he urged Erik ten Hag to take advice from assistant coach - and former Red Devils striker - Ruud van Nistelrooy.

  United opened the Premier League season with a 1-0 win over Fulham, but then suffered back-to-back defeats against Brighton and Hove Albion and Liverpool.

  It is the second time under Ten Hag the Red Devils have lost as many as two of their first three league games in a season (also 2022-23); as many times as in their previous 29 campaigns combined.

  United have also scored three goals fewer than their xG suggests they should have so far this term (two goals, 5.2 xG), the biggest such difference for any team in the Premier League.

  Ten Hag was recently joined in the dugout by compatriot Van Nistelrooy, who scored 150 in 219 appearances at Old Trafford between 2001 and 2006.

  And Ronaldo - the scorer of 145 in 346 games across his two spells - thinks the Red Devils will benefit from the wisdom of people with prior experience and knowledge of the club.

  "[As the] Man United manager; you cannot say that you're not going to fight to win the Premier League or Champions League," he told former team-mate Rio Ferdinand on FiveUK.

  "You've to say: 'maybe we've not got the potential, but we're going to try'. You have to try!

  "If Ten Hag listens to Ruud van Nistelrooy, maybe he can help. He knows the club and the club should listen to the guys who were there [like] Rio, Roy Keane, [Paul] Scholes, Gary Neville, Alex Ferguson. You cannot rebuild a club without knowledge."

  United return to action this weekend away at pointless Southampton, against whom they are unbeaten in their last 12 Premier League visits since a 1-0 defeat in August 2003.

  The Red Devils have also lost just one of their last 30 Premier League matches against promoted sides, winning 15 of their last 17 such games.

• Auger Aliassime and Shapovalov help Canada to Davis Cup victory

  Felix Auger Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov helped Canada make a winning start to their Davis Cup Finals group-stage campaign, overcoming Argentina in Manchester.

  Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Shapovalov got Canada off to a flier in the opening singles match of the Group D encounter, beating Francisco Cerundolo 7-5 6-3 in one hour and 37 minutes.

  Cerundolo committed 51 unforced errors in a disjointed display, giving up back-to-back breaks early in the second set as the match slipped away from him after a competitive opener.

  Not to be outdone, Auger Aliassime followed up Shapovalov's victory by beating Sebastian Baez 6-3 6-3, keeping his opponent under fierce pressure throughout and converting seven of the 12 break points he forced.

  Doubles specialists Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni then beat Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil in three sets, but that was not enough to deny Canada victory.

  Great Britain and Finland are the other two teams in Group D, with Jack Draper leading the hosts' bid to reach the knockout stages in Malaga later this year.

• Murray embracing new found freedom after tennis retirement

  Andy Murray expected to miss playing tennis after putting his racket down for the final time last month but said retirement has been "the complete opposite" to what he anticipated.

  Murray, who won three grand slam titles across a glittering 19-year career, saw his time on the court come to an end at Roland-Garros in the Paris Olympics.

  The 37-year-old competed alongside Dan Evans in the men's doubles, reaching the quarter-finals of the competition to eventual bronze medallists Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul. 

  Murray withdrew from Wimbledon ahead of the Games after picking up a back injury against Jordan Thompson at the Queen's Club Championship, the latest of many injury setbacks towards the latter stages of his career.

  "Since I've stopped, I feel really free and have got lots of time to do whatever it is I want," Murray told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

  "I can dedicate time to my children and have free time to play golf or go to the gym on my own terms.

  "It is really nice and I didn't expect that. I was expecting to find retirement hard and be missing tennis a lot and wanting to get back on the tennis court on tour.

  "So far it has been the complete opposite to what I was thinking."

  The 37-year-old won his first grand slam in 2012 at the US Open before ending Britain's 77-year wait for a men's Wimbledon champion in 2013, winning it again in 2016.

  During his career, Murray played 1,001 singles matches in his career, earning his landmark victory against Alexei Popyrin in three sets at Queen's.

  After his injury in W14, the Scot vowed that the 2024 Olympic Games would be where his career ended, a competition he won two gold medals in 2012 and 2016.

  While there was no perfect ending in the French capital, Murray revealed he was now spending some quality time with his family. 

  "The thing that I always found difficult in recent years was that there was always a guilt associated with what I was doing," Murray said.

  "If I was going away for a trip of like three to four weeks I would feel guilty leaving my children at home or being away from my wife for a long time with them, so missing the kids I found hard.

  "But if I was at home with the kids then I was running around and spending a lot of my time on my feet after training.

  "I was then thinking 'is this going to affect my training or performance the next day, should I have my feet up?' I found that stuff difficult over the last few years."