- As Villarreal fall 1-2 at Old Trafford
On a day Cristiano Ronaldo set the record for Champions League appearances, he also moved level with current Barcelona star, Sergio Aguero for late winners as Manchester United struggled back to winning ways against Villareal at Old Trafford.
Ronaldo now has three game-winning goals in the Champions League after the 90th minute, putting him level with the former Manchester City, Aguero
It was the Portuguese star who saved United by providing the match-winning moment in second-half stoppage time, as he combined with Jesse Lingard to seal a 2-1 win for the Red Devils.
The Ole Gunnar Solskjaer men had fallen behind in the second half only for Alex Telles to equalise later on, and it was Ronaldo that, once again, provided the game-changing moment when his side needed it most.
And after the match, United boss Solskjaer was full of praise for Ronaldo, saying that he always knows his team has a chance with Ronaldo on the field.
“’There’s always a chance with Ronaldo. That’s what happens here at Old Trafford,” Solskjaer told BT Sport. “We threw caution to the wind and we got lucky. They’re a hard team to play against. When you have Cristiano on the pitch there’s always a chance. Cristiano is so good in front of goal.”
Ronaldo’s goal came at the tail-end of a relatively quiet game for the Portuguese star, and the Old Trafford Landlords in general. And pushing for a late winner, the five-time FIFA Ballon d’Or winner popped up, won a header, and ran onto Lingard’s pass to seal the three points.
“He’s done that so many times,” Solskjaer said, “and when you saw him [for Portugal] against Ireland a month ago, he missed a penalty early, didn’t touch the ball more or less, and scored two great headers in the last minutes.”
According to Solskjaer; “That’s what he’s done throughout his career. He stays in the game. I’ve seen him all day, the way he’s built up for this game, and when he gets that one chance it’s a goal. He had a couple of half-chances, but a true mark of a great finisher is that he keeps calm when the [big] chance arrives.”
What Ronaldo said
“It’s my job,” Ronaldo told BT Sport, adding; “It’s a very difficult game. Villarreal plays so good. They had many chances. We struggled a little and we knew before the game that we must win the match. It was tough.
“The team was a little nervous in the first half and second half, to be honest. We were a little bit lucky as well, which we didn’t have last game but we had today.”
“Great attitude from our players and the fans pushed us a lot. This is what we need when the team is not playing well. An important win”, he said
United entered Wednesday’s game needing to win, having lost their opener to Young Boys. Next up for them is the game against Atalanta as they host the Serie A side on October 20, 2021. – With Goal.com reports
