Ronaldo helps United climb table
Man U produce their best half of football under interim manager
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a fourth goal in his last five Premier League games to help Manchester United beat Burnley 3-1 yesterday for their biggest win under recently-hired manager Ralf Rangnick.
Ronaldo grabbed the third of United’s first-half goals, tapping into the net in the 35th minute after Scott McTominay’s long-range shot was tipped on to the post by Burnley keeper Wayne Hennessey.
With 14 goals in all competitions this season, the Portugal forward has made a strong start to his second spell at United and he was paired up front with Edinson Cavani — a strike partnership with a combined age of 70.
United had far too much going forward for the visitors, who were playing their first game since December 12 after fixtures against Watford, Aston Villa and Everton were postponed because of Covid-19 outbreaks in opponents’ squads.
McTominay, with a curling shot from the edge of the area, and an own goal by Ben Mee — off his outstretched foot as he attempted to block Jadon Sancho’s shot — had set United on course for victory as Rangnick’s team bounced back from a disappointing
1-1 draw at Newcastle on Tuesday. In perhaps a signal of his displeasure about the Newcastle game, Rangnick made six changes, including three in defence. One of them was Eric Bailly, who went off injured midway through the second half in a potential blow to Ivory Coast ahead of the African Cup of Nations.
Aaron Lennon capped an entertaining first half by finding the net with a shot into the far corner to reduce the deficit in the 38th minute with his first goal since September
2018.
By then, United had done enough to secure a third win in four league games under Rangnick and climb above Tottenham into sixth.
McTominay said he felt United’s first-half performance was their best since Rangnick arrived.
“We are learning and adapting,” the Scotland midfielder said. “The game against Newcastle was difficult and we had to bounce back from that. The manager said we set the record for the most turnovers in the league. We had to keep the ball better.”
United are 19 points behind leaders Manchester City, having played two games fewer.
Burnley stayed in the relegation zone in third-from-last place but have played fewer games — 16 — than all the teams around them fighting the drop.
“We haven’t played for three weeks and there was a bit of rustiness there,” Lennon said. “We will dust ourselves down and go again.”