It was always going to happen wasn’t it? Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed the headlines and ensured Manchester United ran out comfortable 4-1 winners against Newcastle.
After opening the scoring with a predatory tap in, Old Trafford was left stunned when Javier Manquillo smashed home an equaliser past David de Gea.
But Ronaldo ensured United regained the lead with a fizzing left-footed strike which went through the legs of Freddie Woodman.
He always finds a way
There is arguably no better clutch footballer to have ever played the game than Cristiano Ronaldo.
He drags his teams through matches and leads them to trophies and those qualities were once again showcased on his return to Old Trafford.
His movement to open the scoring cannot be trained, it’s just pure killers instinct. If that was Anthony Martial up front, Woodman would have collected the ball and his side would have gone in at half-time 0-0.
Ronaldo’s ability to score all types of goals and adapt his game to become the most clinical finisher has given United a get out of jail free card.
Less points dropped with CR7
An issue throughout Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s tenure has been his side’s struggle to overcome teams that sit back and aim to frustrate United.
United dropped points against Sheffield United, Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion at a time when for a short period it looked like we were mounting a title challenge.
But United came unstuck and looked bereft of ideas. But things are different now.
Having Ronaldo will mean United will find a way time and time again as he showed yesterday, increasing his Red Devils tally to 120 goals. Opposition defences will sense it, the fans will believe it and his teammates will supply him and hope he bails them out.
Even though Newcastle made it 1-1 yesterday, having Ronaldo on the pitch meant there was no reason to be worried that the scoreline would remain the same.
His desire to win will become contagious in United’s dressing room and dropping sloppy points in a league which has little margin for error will be few and far between with the 36-year-old back and firing.
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