Ole hails his special Ron for winner – and work rate!
OLE Gunnar Solskjaer praised Cristiano Ronaldo’s impact at both ends after he scored United’s winner against Atalanta.
The Portugal ace secured a second successive Champions League comeback win at Old
Trafford as the Reds recovered from a 2-0 half-time deficit to win 3-2.
The 36-year-old’s work-rate has come under scrutiny in recent weeks but Ronaldo scored his sixth goal of the season to give United six points from nine halfway through the group stage.
“I was really, really pleased with how he led the line,” Solskjaer said. “As a centre forward we asked him to run the channels, drop in, press more because we’re home, we want to get the crowd behind us.
“He was down inside his own sixyard box and blocked towards the end, you see him sprinting, he did everything a centre forward should do, leading the line and defending.
“And the goal is what he does better than most.”
United created good openings in the first half but Fred hit his effort wide and Marcus Rashford smacked the crossbar before he struck in the 53rd minute.
Harry Maguire’s composed finish levelled the match before Ronaldo rose to meet Luke Shaw’s cross in the 81st minute. Despite the dire half-time situation, Solskjaer was pleased with some of the football United played in the first half.
“I thought in the first half we played some good stuff,” he added. “We created chances, we just couldn’t take them. It was [about] keeping the belief at half-time, keep playing forward, get the crowd behind us again and we took the goal really well.
“The difference was the quality of finishing in the second half was much, much better.
“They had two chances and in those two moments, we switched off and conceded two easy goals. In the second half, David makes two fantastic saves.
“The difference in performances is not that great, what decides the outcome is the quality of finishes.
Second half was much better than the first.
“I can understand why people who don’t really watch every game see the inconsistency and with that game, being 2-0 down the performance looks really bad. But the performance wasn’t too down-worthy.
“That was the message at halftime: add more quality in finishing, get an extra pass off and make sure we don’t concede the goal.”
Meanwhile, Maguire said the United players still believed they would beat Atalanta at half-time.
“We knew we were well in the game, we were disappointed to be 2-0 down, two big moments went against us, a set-play and a free-kick, but apart from that we created chances,” said the Reds skipper.
“We had three or four great chances and we knew if we upped it we would create more chances.
“They play on the front foot and they’re an attacking team, we knew the next goals would be crucial. It was the perfect secondhalf performance capped off with a great Cristiano Ronaldo goal.”
United were spurred on by an electric atmosphere inside Old Trafford, especially in the second half.
“When I was growing up watching the Champions League at Old Trafford you dreamt of being involved and playing in it and that’s why, the atmosphere was incredible,” added Maguire.
“They got right behind us, you could feel the energy from the fans and we got the victory they deserved.”