Cristiano Ronaldo continues to enlarge his legend. The Portuguese is being enough to overcome all the obstacles that are being presented to Manchester United in this Champions League. If the team needs him, Cristiano appears: has scored in the four rounds and has already scored five goals in the top European competition, nine in total since he returned to Old Trafford. He appeared against Villarreal in injury time. He appeared at Old Trafford to trace the first leg against Atalanta. And he appeared again in Italy, this time on two occasions, the last one also in discount, to avoid a defeat that left the Red Devils in third place in their group. The Portuguese spliced ​​a volley from the front and put the 2-2 on the scoreboard when Solskjaer had nightmares again with what was coming on the horizon.
The Italian team went ahead thanks to a goal from Ilicic in which De Gea was able to do more. If the Spanish goalkeeper also fails, Manchester United has it even more difficult. Solskjaer repeated the scheme of three centrals -as in the victory against Tottenham by 0-3 this Saturday-, but soon the plan ran out: Varane had to retire injured in the first half and the entry of Greenwood returned the most usual line of four.
Meanwhile, Zapata and Koopmeiers exposed the visitors’ weaknesses with every possession. Pogba, at halftime, accumulated a total of 10 losses. Only in a magnificent collective play where Greenwood, Bruno and Cristiano combined were they able to tie the game, with a perfect definition of the Portuguese star, who started as a center forward.
The defensive ineffectiveness of the English was again in evidence in the second half when Zapata found a gap and beat De Gea to make it 2-1. From that moment on, the Red Devils went for the tie. Cavani, Matic, Van de Beek or Sancho entered from the bench, absent in the last two games due to technical decision. It was not until the last moments when Cristiano was able to plug in the 2-2 that leaves Manchester United as the leader of his group, tied on points with Villarreal, waiting to return to play against the Spanish and close the phase against the Young Boys, bottom. Next weekend, in the derby against Manchester City, Solskjaer will again have a stone in the way …
|
Group F |
PT |
Pj |
PG |
PE |
PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
|
Group F |
PT |
Pj |
PG |
PE |
PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 |