Cristiano Ronaldo scores as Manchester United beat Sheriff to set up Real Sociedad decider in Europa League
Goals from Diogo Dalot, Marcus Rashford and Cristiano Ronaldo gave Manchester United a 3-0 win over FC Sheriff on Thursday evening in the Europa League.
The ultimately comfortable win set up an enticing group decider with Real Sociedad, to be played in San Sebastian next Thursday afternoon.
To qualify for the knockout stages directly, United must win by more than a goal, or by a one-goal margin that is not 1-0.
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They huffed and puffed in the first half, Cristiano Ronaldo missing their best chance, but then a minute before the break, a terrific ball in from Christian Eriksen picked out Dalot at the front post, who scored with a powerful header.
The second half was a similar story, United dominating, and on 65 minutes, Rashford planted home a terrific header before Ronaldo completed the scoring, tucking away a rebound after his own header had been saved. The stern test is yet to come, but momentum is building.
TALKING POINT
One of the beauties of football is that one goal is worth the same as any other goal, however it’s scored, and United haven’t scored enough from set-plays in recent times – and that was their first from a corner this season.
There’s no excuse for this, given in Christian Eriksen, Bruno Fernandes and Antony, they have three players more than capable of delivering quality crosses. Their problem has been a lack of conviction and competence from those players deputed to get on the end of things, but Diogo Dalot showed excellent anticipation in simply holding his position, and decent desire to get on the end of an inviting ball in. The challenge now is for the men attacking the box to make this the first of many, rather than a handy outlier.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Christian Eriksen (Man United) No one was that good because no one needed to be, but he set United’s tempo by picking clever passes into the front men.
PLAYER RATINGS
Manchester United: De Gea 6, Dalot 7, Lindelof 6, Martinez 6, Malacia 6, Casemiro 6, Eriksen 7, Fernandes 7, Antony 6, Ronaldo 6, Garnacho 7. Subs: Maguire 6, Rashford 7, Shaw 6, McTominay 6, Van de Beek 6.
Sheriff: Sheriff: Koval 7, Guedes Borges 5, Junior Kiki 6, Radeljic 7, Kpozo 6, Badolo 5, Diop 5, Kyabou 5, Mudasiru 5, Rahseed 4, Antiemwen 5. Subs: Hatman 6, Covali 6, Gliga 6.
KEY STAT
Diogo Dalot’s goal was the first United have scored from a corner this season.
KEY MOMENTS
Antony finds Fernandes just outside the box, via square pass, and we’ve seem him stick these away before … but his effort doesn’t come back quite enough, bending just wide of the near post.
28’ – THE BEST CHANCE SO FAR!
Lindelof caresses a find diag onto Bruno’s head, he cushions into the middle for the onrushing Ronaldo … but the finish is a poor one, studs shoving ball into Kovar’s leg. that really should’ve been 1-0.
44’ – GOAL! Manchester United 1-0 Sheriff (Dalot) Eriksen’s corner is a good one, picking out Dalot at the near post, and he holds his position to crunch a decent header past Koval. What a season he’s having!
58’ – OH RONALDO!
A clever pass from Eriksen puts him in space dead centre, just outside the box. Bruno is screaming for a pass, but his run across Ronaldo, tracked by a defender, opens a shooting angle … only for him to paste a shot over the bar when 2-0 looked inevitable!
65’ – GOAL! Manchester United 2-0 Sheriff (Rashford) The supersub does it again! United move the ball across the park from right to left, Maguire, Ronaldo and McTominay all involved, then Shaw dinks in a cross and Rashford cranks his neck muscles to hammer in a terrific header inside the near post.
81’ – GOAL! Manchester United 3-0 Sheriff (Ronaldo) He gets his goal, his first at Old Trafford this season! Outside the box, right-hand side, Bruno curls in a sumptuous cross and Ronaldo thunks a downward header that Koval shoves away, but Ronaldo is onto the loose ball like a child onto a bottle of Sunny D, lashing high into the next from four yards.
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