Ronaldo’s greatness helped Manchester United win their first match of the Champions League season 2021/2022 when he shot hard at goalkeeper Geronimo Luli from close range.
Manchester United came into the match on a back of two losses without scoring, an identical 1:0 loss to Aston Villa and Westham (EFL Cup) and things got worse for the Old Trafford side when they fell behind to Villarreal in the 53rd minute courtesy of a Paco Alcacrr goal in a very much exposed Man Utd defense.
However, Manchester United gathered momentum sooner and levelled matters seven minutes later through Alex Telles who became the seventh Brazilian to score for Manchester United after, Kléberson, Rafael, Anderson, Fabio, Andreas Pereira and Fred.
It was for Champions League appearance record holder Christiano Ronaldo who snatched the last minute goal to seal all the three much needed points for the on-pressure Ole Gunnar Solskjaer side. The goal meant no player has scored more 90th minute winning goals in Champions League than Ronaldo, tied with Aguero on 3. The win was Manchester United’s first against Villa Real ahving drawn goalles in the last four meetings in the tournament.
At 36 years and 236 days, Ronaldo also became the second oldest Man Utd player to score a goal in European Competition at Old Trafford after Bryan Robson. (36 years and 282 Years) when the Red Devils played Galatasaray in 1993.
Elsewhere, Chelsea fell to a second loss of the season and in succession in all competitions after a Federico Chiesa goal 10 seconds into second half to become the fastest second half goal in Champions League history. The goal was also Chelsea’s third conceded this season, with three goals conceded costing the ‘Blues’ eight points in all competitions.
At Allianz Arena, Bayern riot on visitors Dynamo Kyiv with a 5:0 thumping, Roberto Lewandowski scored a brace to make it 119 goals in the last 100 matches he’s featured, and 41 goals in 2021, six goal more than his immediate competitor. Gnabry, Choupo-Moting and Sane scored the other goals.
At Estadio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, home side Benfica FC ruthlessly lectured Barcelona with a 3:0 thumping. The loss means Barca have lost 3:0 to Bayern Munich and Benfica in the two opening group stages of this season’s Champions League season. The loss also continued Barcelona’s woeful start to the season and are now on a five winless streak since a 2:1 win over Getafe on 29th August,2021.