United ‘s fond memories of their 3-0 win at Tottenham on Saturday were banished inside 12 minutes when Josip Ilicic fired Atalanta ahead from Duvan Zapata ‘s intersect, with help oneself from David de Gea ‘s fumble of the Slovenian ‘s relatively straightforward effort.
A fine one-touch act pulled United level at the end of a familiarly uninspiring first gear one-half when Bruno Fernandes ‘ arrant backheel teed up Ronaldo to take a touch and beat Juan Musso from eight yards .
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man Utd are level on points with Villarreal
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ‘s side came out looking shrill after the break but found themselves behind again 11 minutes into the moment period. Jose Palomino ‘s ball in buttocks catch out the United defense and found Zapata just onside, but, after beating De Gea at his approximate military post, he was made to wait more than two minutes for a VAR review to overturn the linesman ‘s initial raised flag .
United pushed but could not find a way to test Musso until more Ronaldo magnificence in injury-time saw the seasoned find the bottom corner with a 20-yard volley to earn another outstanding last-gasp leave but raise more questions than answers for Solskjaer and his team .
Player ratings
Atalanta: Musso ( 6 ), De Roon ( 6 ), Demiral ( 7 ), Palomino ( 7 ), Zappacosta ( 7 ), Freuler ( 6 ), Koopmeiners ( 7 ), Maehle ( 6 ), Ilicic ( 7 ), Pasalic ( 6 ), Zapata ( 7 ).
Subs: Djimsiti ( 7 ), Muriel ( 6 ).
Man Utd: De Gea ( 5 ), Wan-Bissaka ( 6 ), Bailly ( 7 ), Varane ( 6 ), Maguire ( 4 ), Shaw ( 6 ), McTominay ( 7 ), Pogba ( 4 ), Fernandes ( 6 ), Rashford ( 5 ), Ronaldo ( 8 ).
Subs: Greenwood ( 7 ), Matic ( 5 ), Cavani ( 5 ), Sancho, Van de Beek ( n/a ).
Man of the match: Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo drags United towards last 16 with crucial double
There was supernumerary scheme about how United would fare in Bergamo on the back of their born-again performance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, and the early signs were well as Scott McTominay ‘s deflected strike rebounded off the woodwork after four minutes. But United ‘s defense, indeed watertight at the weekend, took merely 12 minutes to be breached as McTominay ‘s undertake interception deflected into Zapata ‘s path and, after checking back away from Aaron Wan-Bissaka, he squared for Ilicic, whose shoot into De Gea ‘s body was bundled into the corner by the goalkeeper ‘s awkward save .
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Ronaldo proved United ‘s jesus for a third gear uncoiled european game
Zapata fired a warn shot of the danger his pace would late pose when played in behind by Davide Zappacosta ‘s hanker ball, which he lashed across-the-board with Ilicic in quad at the far position, shortly before United were cope more defensive concerns as Raphael Varane was forced off by a hamstring injury. With alarm bells ringing and United returning to type with the half-time rupture approach, a moment of glare involving three of United ‘s forwards pulled them level. Fernandes, Ronaldo and Mason Greenwood took a touch each before Fernandes laid the ball off wonderfully for Ronaldo to level things up. United looked to have been handed a golden escape when the otherwise impressive Eric Bailly lost Zapata after the striker ran onto Palomino ‘s ball in behind and beatnik De Gea from 12 yards, with an offside flag cutting curtly the striker ‘s celebrations .
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Duvan Zapata ‘s goal was his seventh of the season
But a VAR recapitulation lasting two minutes and six seconds adjudged he had been played onside by Harry Maguire, and their relief was shortlived. From there Atalanta looked to see out victory, with Musso barely tested by United in the final half-hour of the game. But Ronaldo, who had already scored former winners in the visitors ‘ two former Champions League games, had other ideas. Greenwood lifted a loosen musket ball into his path on the border of the box, which the 36-year-old catch with distinctive preciseness to nestle the ball inside the far post and rescue United at the death.
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What the manager said…
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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer compared Cristiano Ronaldo ‘s impact on Manchester United to that of NBA legend Michael Jordan at Chicago Bulls, after the forward rescued his slope in their Champions League pull at Atalanta .
Manchester United bos Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told BT Sport : “ It ‘s a besotted game, flaws both ways. Their two goals are very compressed to being offside. I feel for the inaugural, it ‘s identical close to a musician interfering with David ‘s opinion, and for the second it ‘s very finale. “ But Cristiano is just incredible. That ‘s what he does. If there ‘s any prospect you want to fall to in the survive minute, and a unmanageable probability, then it ‘s him. “ He keeps his center on the testis and his technique on that volley is incredible. That ‘s football. No one can question the character of these players as they did n’t give up, they do n’t give in and they keep going. ”
Man of the match – Cristiano Ronaldo
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Ronaldo ( 36y & 270d ) is the oldest player to score 2+ goals in a one game for Manchester United in european competition
At the end of another match where Ronaldo offered small in open playing period, he walked off with another two goals to his name. He could have spent 89 of the 90 minutes without having any impact on the plot and inactive have provided its two most all-important moments with such wonderfully taken finishes at the end of either half. Should United make it to the last 16, which looks increasingly likely, they owe a great debt of gratitude to their count seven. Without him, their hopes could already be over.
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Ronaldo celebrates his bright late intervention
Sky Sports ‘ Paul Merson on Soccer Special : “ It ‘s another Polyfilla one, it ‘s good covering over the cracks, but it ‘s a result. They ‘ve got a reap and they ‘re going to qualify. “ If they had lost, and they had gone and got beat by Villarreal, they were about out of the rival. immediately you would expect them to qualify. “ angstrom long as you ‘ve got him ( Ronaldo ) on the pitch, you ‘ve got a casual. They had n’t looked like scoring in a month of Sundays and then he goes and does what he ‘s done. ”
Opta stats: Ronaldo eclipses Solskjaer’s United record
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Ronaldo celebrates scoring his foremost goal against Atalanta
- Atalanta have only won one of their six games against English teams in the UEFA Champions League (D2 L3), with that victory coming away at Liverpool last season.
- Only Norwich (28) and Leicester (25) have conceded more goals in all competitions amongst Premier League sides this season than Man Utd (23).
- Manchester United have conceded first in nine of their 14 UEFA Champions League games under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (W2 D1 L6 in games when conceded first).
- Cristiano Ronaldo has now scored 127 goals in all competitions for Manchester United (303 apps), one more than his current manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer registered for the Red Devils (126 goals in 366 apps).
- Cristiano Ronaldo (36y 270d) is the oldest player to score 2+ goals in a single game for Manchester United in European competition.
- Cristiano Ronaldo is the first player to score in four consecutive UEFA Champions League appearances for Manchester United since Ruud van Nistelrooy in April 2003 (in a run of nine).
- Since his Man Utd debut in February 2020, Bruno Fernandes has been directly involved in more goals in all competitions than any other Premier League player (77 – 44 goals, 33 assists).
- Josip Ilicic has scored the most UEFA Champions League goals for Atalanta (7), while Duvan Zapata now leads the way for assists for them in the competition (5).
What’s next?
Live Premier League
manchester United are back on Sky Sports in a huge match-up with Manchester City on Saturday from 12pm ; kick-off at 12.30pm. Atalanta travel to bottom side Cagliari in their next pit in Serie A on Saturday ; Kick-off at 7.45pm.