Ronaldo is United's hero yet again in wild win

3 years ago 388

Cristiano Ronaldo saved Manchester United again successful the Champions League.

The top scorer successful the competition's past soared to caput successful an 81st infinitesimal victor arsenic United erased a 2 extremity halftime shortage to bushed Atalanta 3-2 successful a chaotic lucifer astatine Old Trafford.

"His leap, his timing - it was the cleanable header," United skipper Harry Maguire said.

Watch Messi, Neymar, Ronaldo and football's biggest superstars successful the UEFA Champions League with each lucifer streaming advertisement free, unrecorded and connected request lone connected Stan Sport. Start your 7 time escaped trial here!

"He has travel up with a monolithic extremity again successful the Champions League."

Ronaldo's record-extending 138th extremity successful the Champions League came 3 weeks aft helium scored successful the 5th infinitesimal of stoppage clip to snatch a triumph implicit Villarreal successful the 2nd circular of games.

United did it the hard mode again aft falling 2-0 down pursuing goals by Mario Pašalić successful the 15th infinitesimal and Merih Demiral successful the 29th.

United punished by large defender

The squad was jeered disconnected the tract aft the halftime whistle.

However, United showed a antithetic broadside successful the 2nd half, laying siege to Atalanta's extremity arsenic Marcus Rashford reduced the shortage successful the 53rd with a calm decorativeness pursuing a stunning outside-of-the-foot done shot by Bruno Fernandes.

Maguire swept successful the equaliser successful the 75th and Ronaldo met a transverse by Luke Shaw for the winner, hanging successful the aerial earlier planting a header down and wrong the post.

The Portugal striker made a last-ditch clearance successful the last seconds and past fell to his knees astatine the last whistle arsenic United fans sang his name.

Ronaldo has present scored six goals successful 8 games since returning for a 2nd spell astatine United and helium was playing his 300th crippled for the club.

United moved into archetypal spot successful Group F, 2 points supra Villarreal and Atalanta.

The triumph relieves immoderate of the unit connected United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, whose squad had won lone 2 of its past 7 games successful each competitions.

Solskjaer vowed to marque changes to the squad to reconstruct immoderate equilibrium and helium was existent to his word, dropping Paul Pogba and pairing Scott McTominay and Fred successful cardinal midfield.

Champions League highlights: Manchester United vs Atalanta

Initially, it didn't work, with Atalanta inactive managing to prime disconnected United successful the archetypal half.

The momentum of the crippled swung astatine halftime, with Atalanta looking little assured astatine the backmost aft Demiral was forced disconnected astatine the interruption due to the fact that of injury.

BARCELONA 1, DYNAMO KIEV 0

It took 1 of Barcelona's veterans to support the Catalan nine from facing an aboriginal elimination successful the Champions League.

Gerard Piqué's first-half extremity equaled a Champions League scoring people for defenders and helped Barcelona borderline Dynamo Kiev 1-0 to extremity its losing streak and get backmost successful presumption to beforehand to the knockout signifier of the European competition.

Piqué scored his 16th Champions League extremity to unafraid the important triumph for Barcelona, which had opened with consecutive 3-0 losses to Bayern Munich and Benfica and was successful information of not getting past the radical signifier for the archetypal clip since 2000-01.

The triumph enactment the Catalan nine successful 3rd spot successful Group E, 2 points successful beforehand of Dynamo and 1 down Benfica, which hosts person Bayern aboriginal Wednesday.

It was Barcelona's 2nd triumph successful a enactment aft it had won lone erstwhile successful six matches successful each competitions.

It had been winless successful 5 consecutive Champions League games, its longest tally without a triumph since 1997.

Champions League highlights: Barcelona vs Dynamo Kyiv

It had mislaid its past 3 Champions League matches astatine location for its worst streak ever successful the European competition.

"We can't discarded truthful galore opportunities, we were playing for our lives," Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman said.

"We could person scored more."

CHELSEA 4, MALMO 0

Injuries to strikers Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner marred Chelsea's awesome 4-0 triumph implicit Malmo successful the Champions League.

Lukaku appeared to wounded his close ankle getting fouled for a punishment that was converted by Jorginho for the 2nd extremity successful the 21st minute, adding to the opener volleyed successful by Andreas Christensen successful the ninth minute.

The Belgium planetary initially tried to play connected but earlier agelong was signaling to beryllium substituted.

Champions League highlights: Chelsea vs Malmo

Werner, the onslaught spouse of Lukaku, past had to travel disconnected with an evident hamstring wounded conscionable earlier halftime astatine Stamford Bridge.

Kai Havertz came connected arsenic the replacement for Lukaku and lifted a deft decorativeness implicit the goalkeeper for the 3rd extremity successful the 48th infinitesimal astatine the extremity of a breakaway led by chap substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi.

Jorginho eschewed his trademark punishment regular — the hop, skip and sidefoot changeable — for his first-half punishment and helium repeated that with different spot footwear successful the 57th infinitesimal to marque it 2-0 aft a foul connected Antonio Rudiger.

BAYERN MUNICH 4, BENFICA 0

Bayern Munich kept up its winning commencement to the Champions League arsenic Leroy Sané scored doubly successful a 4-0 triumph implicit Benfica, but manager Julian Nagelsmann wasn't determination to spot it.

Bayern didn't unfastened the scoring until the 70th infinitesimal aft 2 disallowed goals, but erstwhile Sané had enactment Bayern successful front, Benfica crumbled.

The triumph puts Bayern 5 points wide of Benfica astatine the apical of Group E with 12 goals scored and nary conceded, and helps third-place Barcelona, present conscionable 1 constituent disconnected a qualifying spot pursuing its 1-0 triumph implicit Dynamo Kiev.

Champions League highlights: Bayern vs Benefica

Just implicit an hr earlier kickoff, Bayern said Nagelsmann had "a flu-like infection," leaving assistants Dino Toppmöller and Xaver Zembrod to oversee the game.

Nagelsmann's lack didn't look to impact Bayern's creativity but determination wasn't the accustomed precise finishing, arsenic shots went wide oregon were saved by goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos.

Bayern's players doubly celebrated taking the lead, lone for video reviews to disallow some goals.

The archetypal was a Robert Lewandowski effort which connected replay went successful disconnected his precocious arm, the 2nd a well-worked determination finished by Thomas Müller but lone aft an offside successful the buildup.

JUVENTUS 1, ZENIT ST PETERSBURG 0

Substitute Dejan Kulusevski scored precocious arsenic Juventus won 1-0 astatine Zenit St Petersburg to sphere its cleanable commencement to the Champions League.

Kulusevski headed successful the lone extremity of the lucifer 4 minutes from clip arsenic Juventus added to its wins against Malmo and Chelsea.

Juventus remained apical of Group H.

Champions League highlights: Zenit vs Juventus

Massimiliano Allegri's broadside is 3 points supra Chelsea, which bushed Malmo 4-0 successful the different radical match.

Zenit is six points down Juventus with Malmo connected zero points.

Juventus was afloat of assurance coming into the crippled arsenic it was unbeaten successful its erstwhile 7 matches.

It has inactive to concede successful the Champions League aft 3 games.

SALZBURG 3, WOLFSBURG 1

Salzburg's young squad took a large measurement person to reaching the Champions League knockout signifier with a 3-1 triumph implicit Wolfsburg.

Noah Okafor scored doubly aft 19-year-old guardant Karim Adeyemi netted aboriginal to enactment the Austrian squad connected people for triumph arsenic it bids to scope the knockout circular for the archetypal time.

"I think, if we transportation connected this way, if we truly springiness everything successful each game, past we person truly a large accidental of reaching the knockout stage," Okafor said.

Less than 3 minutes into the game, Germany planetary Adeyemi scored his 3rd extremity of the radical stage, showing disconnected his gait connected the antagonistic to bushed defender Kevin Mbabu to a walk and sprint into the punishment country earlier scoring past Koen Casteels successful the Wolfsburg goal.

That was Salzburg's archetypal extremity from unfastened play successful this year's Champions League aft each of its erstwhile 3 came from the punishment spot.

Champions League highlights: Sevilla vs Lille

SEVILLA 0, LILLE 0

Sevilla had the champion chances to triumph successful a choky and often dull crippled arsenic it drew 0-0 astatine Lille successful the Champions League.

Sevilla winger Lucas Ocampos went adjacent with a curling changeable saved precocious successful the archetypal fractional and a bicycle footwear wide of the station successful the 2nd half.

Sevilla should person done capable to unafraid a archetypal win, with striker Rafa Mir besides having a changeable saved disconnected the enactment successful the archetypal half, but alternatively sits successful 2nd spot successful Group G with 3 points from 3 games.

Lille is 3rd with 2 points.

"When you play astatine home, you person to propulsion more, truly privation to score, to win," Lille's seasoned skipper Jose Fonte said.

"It's a small frustrating erstwhile we deliberation astir however it was past season. We person to support moving to find the dynamic and spot of past season."

For a regular dose of the champion of the breaking quality and exclusive contented from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!