Football

Ronaldo’s brace helps United defeat Arsenal 3-2; achieves 801 career goals

By Vaibhaw Tiwari

In a mid-week encounter in Premier League, Manchester United hosted Arsenal in what was supposed to be a superb encounter. And it certainly lived up to the billing, as both the teams went neck to neck to snatch the three points.

On the one hand, we had the Londoners who were moving up the ladder after a shaky start to their campaign. While Manchester United, on the other hand, was still recovering from the departure of their former manager Ole Gunnar Solskajaer and searching for their first Premier League victory in the post-Ole era.

The match started with complete Arsenal domination and a little misfortune for Manchester United. After mounting up enormous pressure on the Red Devils, the Gunners scored a rather unusual goal from a set-piece in the 13th minute of the game.

It all started with the corner delivered into the box very nicely from the right-hand side, and United failed to clear it. The ball came tamely to Smith-Rowe of Arsenal on the edge of the box, and he blasted a superb shot into an empty net. Yes, Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea was on the floor in pain. The referee immediately discarded the goal, but VAR checks showed that his own teammate brought down de Gea, and the goal stood.

Manchester united toiled for the rest of the half to find the equalizer. They moved in great numbers but just couldn’t penetrate the Arsenal defense in the final third of the pitch. It was only towards the end of the first half that all the pressure created by United paid dividends. A low pass by Fred to Bruno Fernandes in the Arsenal box allowed the Portuguese midfielder to score a goal on his 100th appearance for his club. This brought his team back on level terms. At half-time, both the teams head into the break tied at 1-1.

In the second half, the Manchester united attack looked more potent, and they reaped the result in just 52nd minute of the game. Rashford, playing from the right flank, combined with Ronaldo to give United the lead in this game. It also marked the 800th career goal for Cristiano Ronaldo.

Arsenal, however, was not going to sit back and watch United dictate the match. They came back strong once again to regain the lead only two minutes later. A great ball by Martinelli to Odegaard followed by a great shot on goal saw Arsenal leveling the scores yet again.

The match hung in the balance for a long time until Manchester United won a penalty in the 69th minute. It was Fred who was brought down in Arsenal’s box. The referee deemed it as no penalty, and it too required a VAR’s intervention to get overruled. Ronaldo stepped up to finish the job, and he did so with a great strike right down the middle to score the winner and goal number 801 for himself.

The match ended at 3-2 in favor of Manchester United. With these three points, they stand 7th on the league table, only two places behind Arsenal.

 

Tags: Arsenal Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United Odegaard Premier League

Vaibhaw Tiwari

Vaibhaw Tiwari is a postgraduate in English. A media enthusiast who has a stronghold on communication and content writing. Vaibhaw is currently working as a subeditor at Daily India News and can be reached at [email protected]