Cristiano Ronaldo takes the plaudits from fellow United scorer Marcus Rashford (Picture: Reuters)
Man United 3-0 Sheriff Tiraspol
Cristiano Ronaldo got the goal he desperately craved on his Manchester United return as they coasted to a 3-0 victory over Sheriff Tiraspol at Old Trafford last night.
The Portuguese superstar was back in Erik ten Hag’s starting XI having been left out of the squad for the weekend draw at Chelsea for refusing to come on as a substitute in the league win over Tottenham.
And at times he cut a figure of frustration, not least just over the hour when he guided Bruno Fernandes’ header down into the net only to be denied by the offside flag. The 37-year-old was perhaps fortunate to escape a yellow card for petulantly drop-kicking the ball into the Stretford End.
His moment of redemption, from Fernandes’ cross, came with seven minutes left when goalkeeper Maksym Koval could only parry Ronaldo’s header back into his path and he could not miss from six yards.
That was not the most extraordinary moment of the match however. Late in the first half Antony turned full circle with the ball twice before hopelessly bashing the ball out for a goal kick.
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Perhaps it was that unnecessary showboating that saw him hauled off by Ten Hag at half-time but by then United were ahead thanks to Diogo Dalot’s powerful header from Christian Eriksen’s corner.
Shortly after Ronaldo’s disallowed goal, Marcus Rashford made it two with a fine header, this time from substitute Luke Shaw’s cross.
Ronaldo crowned a satisfactory night for United, with the 3-0 scoreline barely doing justice to their dominance on the night.
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Man United 3-0 Sheriff Tiraspol.
