Ronaldo rises to the challenge
Cristiano Ronaldo saved Manchester United again in the European Champions League.
The greatest scorer in the competition’s history soared to head in an 81st-minute winner as United erased a two-goal halftime deficit to beat Atalanta 3-2 in a wild match at Old Trafford in Manchester yesterday.
Ronaldo’s record-extending 138th goal in the Champions League came three weeks after he scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time to snatch a victory over Villarreal in the second round of games.
United did it the hard way again after falling 2-0 behind following goals by Mario Pasˇalic´ in the 15th minute and Merih Demiral in the 29th. The team was jeered off the field after the halftime whistle.
However, United showed a different side in the second half, laying siege to Atalanta’s goal as Marcus Rashford reduced the deficit in the 53rd with a calm finish following a stunning outside-of-the-foot through ball by Bruno Fernandes.
Harry Maguire swept in the equaliser in the 75th and Ronaldo got on the end of a cross by Luke Shaw for the winner. The Portugal striker made a last-ditch clearance in the final seconds and then fell to his knees at the final whistle. United moved into first in Group F, two points above Villarreal and Atalanta.
Injuries to strikers Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner marred Chelsea’s impressive 4-0 win over Malmo. Lukaku appeared to hurt his right ankle getting fouled for a penalty that was converted by Jorginho for the second goal in the 21st minute, adding to the early opener volleyed in by Andreas Christensen.
Chelsea bounced back from a loss at Juventus in the second round of games and are second place in Group H. It took one of Barcelona’s veterans to keep the Catalan club from facing an early elimination.
Gerard Pique´’s first-half goal equalled a Champions League scoring mark for defenders and helped Barcelona edge Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 to end their losing streak and get back in position to advance to the knockout stage of the European competition.
Salzburg’s young squad took a big step closer to reaching the Champions League knockout stage with a 3-1 win over Wolfsburg.
In other games, Bayern Munich won 4-0 in Portugal against Benfica, French club Lille drew with Spain’s Seville 0-0, Spanish side Villarreal won 4-0 away at Switzerland’s Young Boys and Italian giants Juventus won away beating Zenit 1-0 in St Petersburg.