Maybe Cristiano Ronaldo came to Manchester in order to win trophies and maybe he will eventually do it, but so far, the Portuguese has only one purpose in this United team – to bail out his former teammate Ole Gunnar Soslkjaer. He did it against Villareal, he did it against Atalanta 14 days ago and he did it tonight, when he scored a brace for a totally undeserved draw: Atalanta – United 2-2.United is playing poorly and Ronaldo keeps scoring. Those are the two most common things lately, and tonight was no exception. The Red Devils were shaky in defense and poor in midfield and Atlanta again dominated possession until the very end, while Iličić and Zapata were a constant threat up front. The hosts were a better team, just like 14 days ago, but didn’t win, ‘thanks’ to Ronaldo’s brilliance.4 – 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). Striking. #ATAMUN pic.twitter.com/SbfaA9Il1e— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 2, 2021 The game nearly started with a Manchester goal. Koopmeiners lost the ball in midfield and Shaw found Rashford, who’s shot was blocked, but Pogba took the ball and passed it to McTominay. The Scotsman took a shot, the ball took a deflection off Musso, and stroke the post. And basically, that was it from Manchester until Ronaldo’s equalizer in injury time. Atalanta took over the possession and started to create problems for United’s defenders. Zapata and Iličić were the main threat and the Red Devils just couldn’t contain them. Iličić used a great Zapata pass in the 12th minute and managed to get the ball just behind De Gea for the equalizer. Zapata nearly got the second one after Pobga was irresponsible in his own penalty area, but Bailly blocked the shot in the last second. And just as everybody thought that the first half was over, a brilliant action and a great goal for United. The ball came to Fernandes, who made a fantastic backheel pass to Ronaldo, who finished in style: 1-1.
It was a beautiful chance to start the second half with the additional adrenaline and Greenwood, who came in instead of injured Varane was especially lively on the right side. But, minute by minute, Atalanta started to dominate again. And it was Duvan Zapata who continued his domination over United’s defenders and in the 56th minute he scored a great goal, after skipping over Bailly, who was to slow for him. Initially it was ruled as offside, but after a long WAR check, Zapata was actually onside and Atalanta was leading again.Solskjaer substituted Pogba, who was poor tonight, but due to an unbalanced transfer window, his substitute was – Nemanja Matic. Hardy an improvement over the Frenchman. Cavani came instead of Rashford but again, it all depended on Cristiano Ronaldo, who used a deflection and just took a shot in the 92nd minute. The ball went just at the bottom right corner for the undeserved equalizer and United’s second place in group F.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUEGroup stageTuesdayWolfsburg – Salzburg 2-1 (1-1)/Baku 3, Nmecha 60 – Wober 30/Malmo – Chelsea 0-1 (0-0)/Ziyech 56/ Villareal – Young Boys 2-0 (1-0)/Capoue 36, Danjuma 89/Sevilla – Lille 1-2 (1-1)/Ocampos 15 – David (p) 43, Ikone 51/Atalanta – Man.Utd. 2-2 (1-1)/Iličić 12, Zapata 56 – Ronaldo 45+1, 90+1/Dynamo Kyiv – Barcelona 0-1 (0-0)/Ansu Fati 70/Juventus – Zenit 4-2 (1-1)/Dybala 11, 58 (p), Chiesa 73, Morata 82 – Bonucci (og), 26, Azmoun 90/Bayern – Benfica 5-2 (2-1)/Lewandowski 26,61,84, Gnabri 32, Sane 49 – Morato 38, Nunez 74/Wednesday20.45: (2.00) Milan (3.50) Porto (4.10)20.45: (1.25) Real Madrid (6.75) Shakhtar (13.0)23.00: (11.0) Sheriff Tiraspol (6.00) Inter (1.30)23.00: (1.40) Sporting (4.90) Besiktas (9.00)23.00: (2.95) RB Leipzig (3.50) PSG (2.50)23.00: (1.13) Man.City (11.0) Club Brugge (19.0)23.00: (2.60) Dortmund (3.50) Ajax (2.80)23.00: (1.70) Liverpool (3.80) Atl.Madrid (5.70)***odds are subject to change