TOWNSEND SPINS ONE TO DRAW WITH UNITED

There was a trademark Cristiano Ronaldo celebration at Old Trafford on Saturday, even if it didn’t come from the Portugal superstar himself.

Everton winger Andros Townsend did a cheeky yet passable imitation of the spin-in-the-air celebration in front of his team’s jubilant fans after scoring the 65th-minute equalizer in a 1-1 draw at Manchester United.

“It’s just a mark of respect to a guy who influenced my career,” said Townsend, adding he “probably didn’t do the celebration justice.”

With Ronaldo starting on the bench and not entering until the 57th, United produced another sloppy performance but managed to take the lead through Anthony Martial in the 43rd following an exquisite touch and pass by Bruno Fernandes.

Everton was dangerous on the counterattack throughout the game as United’s concentration and discipline waned in its third game in an eight-day span — and less than 72 hours after an energy-sapping home win against Villarreal in the Champions League that was sealed by Ronaldo’s stoppage-time goal.

And the hosts were picked off on a break by Everton that resulted in Townsend’s goal, as Fred failed to gather possession in two attempted tackles in midfield following a corner by United before Abdoulaye Doucoure charged through to set up Townsend.

After drilling a low shot into the corner from just inside the area, Townsend performed the Ronaldostyle celebration.

Chelsea, another title contender, also looked like it would be dropping points at home until Timo Werner and Ben Chilwell scored late goals to seal a 3-1 win over Southampton.

The win put Chelsea in first place ahead of today’s game at Anfield between Liverpool and Manchester City, who came into the seventh round as the top two.

More soccer

In an unexpected move, Barcelona’s club president quashed reports of the imminent firing of Ronald Koeman when he said that the Dutch coach will keep his job.

“Koeman will continue being the coach of Barcelona,” Joan Laporta said hours before Barcelona’s match at Atletico Madrid that many reports in the Spanish media speculated could be Koeman’s last.

It was the first public statement

Laporta has made since a bitter 3-0 loss at Benfica in the Champions League on Wednesday sparked various reports that Koeman’s days were numbered.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic withdrew from Sweden’s squad for its upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Kosovo and Greece. The veteran striker hasn’t fully recovered from a knee injury.

Local sports

Katie Lukes tallied 17 kills, Grace Frohling added 16 of her own, and the No. 25-ranked San Diego volleyball (10-3, 4-0 WCC) team rolled to its fourth straight victory, taking down West Coast Conference foe Santa Clara (4-11, 0-5 WCC) by a 3-1 margin at the Leavey Center at Santa Clara.

The Toreros won the first two sets by scores of 25-17 and 25-19 before dropping the third by a 25-19 margin, then finished things how they started, closing the match out with another 25-17 win in the fourth.

• The San Diego State volleyball team snapped a two-match losing streak in a tough three-set victory over Air Force (26-24, 27-25, 25-21) in a Mountain West clash inside Aztec Court at Peterson Gym. For the Aztecs (5-11, 2-2), Victoria O’sullivan led all players with 13 kills and three service aces to go with a trio of blocks, including a solo stop, while Mikela Labno reached the doubledigit plateau with 10 put-aways while hitting at a .474 pace with just one error on 19 attempts.

• Three different Tritons found the back of the net as the UC San Diego men’s soccer team earned its first-ever Big West Conference win with a convincing 3-1 victory over Cal State Fullerton inside Triton Soccer Stadium. UC San Diego improves to 4-5 on the season (1-1 Big West).

Elsewhere

Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom said he’s taking his hip injury rehab slowly and doesn’t know when he’ll play.

Backstrom has not skated during training camp and seems like a long shot to play in the season opener Oct. 13 against the New York Rangers or soon thereafter.

“I have no timetable here,” Backstrom said in his first public comments since camp started.

• Ons Jabeur and Garbine Muguruza advanced to the Chicago Fall Tennis Classic final when their semifinal opponents both were unable to play.