Ronaldo announces arrival with goals
MANCHESTER: Cristiano Ronaldo enjoyed a dream return as a Manchester United player with a double as the Red Devils beat Newcastle 4-1 in front of a rocking Old Trafford on Saturday. Ronaldo now has 120 United goals to his name, but scored his first since leaving for Real Madrid 12 years ago to take Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men top of the League table.
United were made to work harder than expected for the three points, but were able to rely on Ronaldo’s predatory instincts to strike twice either side of Javier Manquillo’s wellworked equaliser. Bruno Fernandes then sealed a day where Portuguese stars shone with a stunning long-range effort 10 minutes from time before Jesse Lingard rounded off the scoring in stoppage time.
United’s fortunes on the field have declined dramatically since Ronaldo’s departure with no Premier League or Champions League success since Alex Ferguson retired as manager in 2013. His return was enough to generate a feverish atmosphere among 74,000 in attendance not seen at Old Trafford for many years. The 36-year-old was serenaded with songs in his honour long before kick-off and even received celebrations of the goals he scored in a shooting drill in the warm-up.
Ronaldo’s arrival has added even more firepower to an already loaded selection of attacking options on offer to Solskjaer. Jadon Sancho and Mason Greenwood flanked Ronaldo in a front three with Fernandes and Paul Pogba supplying the ammunition from midfield.
The crowd who had come for a party were starting to get restless as Newcastle held out relatively comfortably until Ronaldo’s first big moment arrived in first-half stoppage time. Greenwood had scored in all of United’s first three League games before the international break and provided the spark once more as Freddie Woodman spilled his deflected effort and the ball fell perfectly for Ronaldo to smash home.
Rather than opening the floodgates for a comfortable win, Newcastle emerged for the second-half with a far more potent threat and cut United open to stun the home support 10 minutes into the second-half. Miguel Almiron burst through midfield and released Allan Saint-maximin.
The Frenchman then rolled the ball perfectly into the path of Manquillo to slot home his first Newcastle goal in 85 appearances. United on the other hand now have one of the deadliest finishers in the history of the game and Ronaldo ensured the day would be all about him on 62 minutes. Despite his advancing years, Ronaldo showed no shortage of pace to burst away from Isaac Hayden to latch onto Luke Shaw’s pass and his powerful strike went straight through Woodman’s grasp.
United still needed the intervention of David de Gea to secure the win as the Spaniard brilliantly turned behind Joelinton’s shot that was destined for the top corner. Fernandes has been United’s talisman for the majority of the 20 months since he joined from Sporting Lisbon, just as Ronaldo did in 2003. And the midfielder ensured he was not completely overshadowed by his compatriot with a sensational strike into the top corner from Paul Pogba’s pass. Pogba was also involved in the fourth as Lingard turned onto his pass and curled into the far corner.
Aubameyang strikes
Arsenal moved off the bottom of the standings and scored their first goal of the campaign after captain Pierre-emerick Aubameyang’s scrambled 66th-minute effort gave them a 1-0 home win over Norwich City.
Odsonne Edouard scored twice on his debut to help Crystal Palace to a 3-0 win over 10-man Spurs at Selhurst Park. Spurs centre back Japhet Tanganga was shown a second yellow card in the 58th minute for a foul on Jordan Ayew, five minutes after the defender was adjudged to have illegally blocked winger Wilfried Zaha.
Matters got worse for the visitors as Palace were awarded a penalty when Ben Davies handled from a Conor Gallagher cross in the 75th minute, and Zaha dispatched the spot-kick past Hugo Lloris. Palace scored again six minutes from time through Edouard, who slotted home from Zaha’s cross 27 seconds after coming on, and the Frenchman completed his dream debut in stoppage time following a slick team move.