Cristiano again. Again the scourge of Villarreal and savior of a United on fire. Without playing his best game and seeing how the Submarine was running over him, he made a simple mistake into a work of art. Rulli’s determination to want to get the ball played, to create superiorities, encouraged Fred to go to pressure to make Capoue blush and give the Portuguese a gift. The seven only had to raise the ball over a goalkeeper embarrassed by his decision and without reflexes in the middle of the exit to solve the mess. The goal, in the 78th minute, together with Sancho’s sentence, pushes the English team into the Champions League, gives Carrick time to reorganize the powder magazine and sends the Submarine to war in Bergamo in fifteen days, where it depends on himself. same to go to the round and win nine million more that would add a total of 40. Forgiveness is what he has: that now he asks for miracles and mercy.
Regardless of the result, Villarreal of the Champions is another. It has nothing to do with the one who bends the knee in the league in both areas and who began to appear only at the end, where his legs trembled. In Europe he shows experience, hunger and impudence. Looking at the first 25 minutes, it was not clear who was a devil and which was the village team. Emery’s wonderfully indecipherable drawing descended onto Carrick’s wall in its first interim. In the absence of Gerard, and with Dia and Alcácer limping, Moi had the mission of playing a false nine, but he is so good that he also managed to be a smart ten in his spare time and even a fabulous eleven. His, Yeremy and Trigueros were the best details and the best chances of the first half, only tarnished by the reflections of Ge Gea.
United showed their mourning until then, confirming that Solskjaer is not entirely to blame. With more poster than game he was lazily integrating into the game, since the tie catapulted him to his goal. He managed to react thanks to Sancho’s electricity, because Parejo lost more balls in ten minutes (3) than in his entire career and, above all, because of the respect that Cristiano continues to instill. Portuguese is no longer the fastest. And seeing Capoue up close, he doesn’t seem the strongest either. However, within the area he is the most handsome. A magnet for the ball. His two best approaches at the beginning served him to silence La Cerámica, whichperhaps conditioned by the 14 goals he had scored against the Submarine in only 20 games. Only a short while later did he know that the curse has no end.
The start of the second half was at Easter. The anguish and uncertainty that the other game in the group would be played at night did not help to know whether to risk or compromise. The party lacked overflow and had plenty of fear. Until Trigueros came back to the area by surprise to force De Gea to do magic again. His stop, prodigious, reminds us that we are facing a capital goalkeeper who, luckily, also plays in red at the European Cups and the World Cups. Villarreal had done more and better than United, but the result remained the same: cold, dangerous, disheartening. So it was time to look at the bench.
The progression of a team can be measured in many ways, with the showcase being the great shortcut. To know the future it is easier to take a look at the warmth in the band. Dia, Chukwueze, Bruno Fernandes and Rashford, to name just a few examples, awaited his contest. Data that shows the level of the Villarreal and United squads and the number of alternatives they have to catch up and stop making excuses. Emery and Carrick know it like no one else, so in the absence of half an hour they began to tweak their eleven in search of more fluidity and punch. Villarreal is penalizing reaching a decisive stretch with their forwards injured (Gerard) or without the right tone (Danjuma, Alcácer and Dia). Villarreal’s changes did not add up. Those of United, multiplied. There the meeting was uneven. First it was a play by Sancho stopped by Rulli. After the juvenile mistake. And as icing on the cake, a counter is also relaunched in its final stretch by Cristiano. Who else. At the last minute. Like Old Trafford. When it hurts the most and is decisive.
