Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
JUVE BEEN DONE, RON
Ronaldo’s wonder goal counts for nothing as Pogba has the last laugh
JOSE MOURINHO could not help himself at the final whistle. And who could blame him?
He had just seen his Manchester United side complete a dramatic late smash-and-grab raid to come from behind to beat the mighty Juventus and he was determined to revel in the moment. Mourinho, who had endured abuse from Juve fans in the first game at Old Trafford because of his association with their rivals Inter, strode onto the pitch at the final whistle, cupping his ear sarcastically towards the home fans. He was headed off on the pitch by Juventus captain Giorgio Chiellini, who remonstrated with him for his inflammatory actions, as United security staff rushed on to escort their boss down the tunnel as tensions ran high.
Such a win had seemed unlikely 25 minutes earlier, when Cristiano Ronaldo produced a typically breathtaking moment of magic to put the Serie A leaders ahead with a majestic volleyed finish.
But four minutes from time, sub Juan Mata (celebrating with team-mates, left) curled in a beautiful free-kick to level it.
As if that wasn’t good enough, with time running out, Ashley Young’s free-kick from the left eluded everyone at the back post before hitting Alex Sandro and creeping over the line. But United had taken a long time to come good.
In fact, Mourinho’s notebook was out after just one minute, the United boss unhappy Ronaldo was allowed to run unchallenged through the middle and set up an attack which, fortuitously for the visitors, came to nothing.
Nemanja Matic was booked after just 12 minutes for an ugly swipe on Paulo Dybala, as United struggled to contain the pace and movement of Juve’s fluid attack, which had caused them so many problems at Old Trafford a fortnight ago.
The Reds were on high alert throughout, not least in the 20th minute when Leonardo Bonucci’s ball was flicked on by
Ronaldo to intended target Sami Khedira, with Victor Lindelof on hand to clear the danger.
United’s best moment of the first-half came just before the half-hour when Matic clipped the ball over the top of the Juve defence for Alexis Sanchez, but the delivery ultimately had too much pace on it and ran away from him.
David De Gea had to be alert in the 34th minute when a cross from Juan Cuadrado took a deflection off Luke Shaw, which sent it spinning goalwards, the keeper doing well to dive low to his right and palm the ball away.
Juve built on that opening and should have taken the lead a minute later when Khedira found himself unmarked just outside the six-yard box but saw his effort hit a post, with United able to clear the ball and recover.
The home side continued where they left off after the restart, Dybala turning sharply before executing a fine curling left-foot effort which bounced off the bar with De Gea rooted to the spot.
There seemed little danger when Bonucci clipped the ball over the top in the 65th minute, but when Ronaldo peeled off Lindelof, the United defender knew he was in trouble.
Ronaldo kept his eye on the ball as it dropped into his path and then executed a volleyed finish of ruthless elegance that left De Gea with no chance of stopping it. With one moment of individual brilliance, Ronaldo undid all the fine work United – and Lindelof in particular – had done to keep Juve at bay for so long on their own ground.
It was a moment to savour, one Reds fans had grown accustomed to during his glittering six-year spell at Old Trafford.
Ex-chelsea star Cuadrado should have made it 2-0 and killed the game in the 74th minute, when he and Ronaldo combined on the counterattack, but he ended up scooping his shot over the bar.
And they paid the price with Mata’s free-kick and then the freak own goal as United grabbed three precious points.