When Cristiano Ronaldo plays, spectacle is guaranteed. The new record player in the Champions League brings the fans and his teammates to ecstasy in the first premier class home game since his return to Manchester United. Because he does what a star striker can do.
When Cristiano Ronaldo is on the pitch, his attention is his. Because every viewer expects the Portuguese to show something outstanding again. Because the 36-year-old usually succeeds. On that Champions League evening, he had taken the game to himself before it even kicked off. When the starting line-ups in the game between Manchester United and Villarreal became known, it was clear: It would be a record game. Because Ronaldo is playing. For the 178th time in the Champions League.
So far, his longtime Real Madrid teammate, goalkeeper Iker Cassilas, had led 177 appearances. But Ronaldo drew attention in the remake of the Europa League final in May – the Portuguese was still at Juventus Turin – the record itself. And that in the first Champions League home game since his return to Manchester. A successful debut in front of their own audience. He didn’t have that special scenes in the course of the game – until at the very end he showed off his usual big points.
The score is 1: 1 until stoppage time. Villarreal had taken the lead through ex-Dortmund’s Paco Alcacer (53rd), Man United equalized just seven minutes later with a volley from Alex Telles. But in the last minute of stoppage time, Ronaldo had his crowning scene. After more than 94 minutes.
Ronaldo got the ball crossed from Fred into the penalty area, he played a header to Jesse Lingard, who was blocked. But Ronaldo came back to the ball, pulled from an acute angle to the right of the goal, Villarreal’s goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli still got it, could not deflect the ball decisively – and so Ronaldo completed the 2-1 victory. He ran ecstatically to the fans, tore his jersey off before his teammates caught up with him and jubilantly tore him to the ground. In the stands, United coaching legend Sir Alex Ferguson and the fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt, applauded.
“Mentally just so strong”
“I’ve seen him build up for this game all day, how focused he was and if he gets that chance it’ll be a goal,” said United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after the game. And raved: “There were some decent headers in the first half that could have turned into chances, but the sign of a very, very good attacker is that he stays calm when the chance comes.” The coach said of his starting striker: “He’s been like that all his career. He’s just so mentally strong and he stays in the game.”
The match winner himself reported that he encouraged his team at half-time: “I told the players in the tunnel that we had to believe in it.” With success, Man United scored the first points of this premier league season. The game against Young Boys Bern was surprisingly lost 2-1. That made his team nervous because they felt the pressure of having to win.
United are now in third place in Group F, with Atalanta Bergamo on top with German national player Robin Gosens, who injured himself against Young Boys in the 10th minute without outside interference and hobbled off the pitch. On October 20, there will be a duel between the two clubs (9 p.m. in the ntv.de live ticker). It will be Ronaldo’s 179th game.
Nobody can keep up that fast. Lionel Messi played his 151st game on Tuesday, moving up to third of the record players, Thomas Müller is tenth on this list with 126 games. Even in the goal statistics, nobody can get past Ronaldo that quickly. It was his 136th goal, and Messi is also his first pursuer in this ranking, he has 121 goals, Robert Lewandowski follows with 77 goals.