11 games against English clubs in the Champions League and not a single win. Villareal is the only club in the world with a record like this, and they will continue to be the only club in the world, since they failed to win in their 12th game against English clubs. In fact, they lost to Manchester United, and Cristiano Ronaldo is to blame. The Portuguese continues to drive this club on his own, as he scored the first goal of the match, which was enough to put Manchester into the knockout stage of the Champions League, since Sancho scored the second goal in the 90th minute. The hosts remain in trouble and will have to wait 14 days to find out their destiny: Villareal – Manchester 0-2.5 – Cristiano Ronaldo is the first ever player to score in each of an English club’s first five matches of a single European Cup/Champions League season (excluding qualifiers). Famous. pic.twitter.com/zkmjLaSWqk— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 23, 2021 The biggest question was – how United played under caretaker manager Michael Carrick? The answer is: average. If they played against any stronger Spanish team tonight, Red Devils will surely lost the game, but they were lucky, since Villareal players were not capable of scoring from a number of chances. Until the 78th minute, when Ronaldo scored, United keeper De Hea was the man of the match. Enough said.Solskjaer’s assistant hinted at squad change and he indeed left Fernandes and Rashford on the bench (Shaw was injured), while De Beek finally got the nod from the first minute. The result? United were flat and without real chances, and only when Fernandes and Rashford were introduced in the 66th minute, Red Devil’s started to attack. And once more about Ronaldo – The Portuguese had one decent chance in the first half, and that basically all he did, until the goal. But that goal will be remembered, his average performance won’t. It was 78th minute when Fred nicked the ball from Capoue and it deflected to Ronaldo, who saw that keeper Rulli was off his line. An easy lob and 1-0 to United. After that, United scored in the 90th minute from a counter attack and won the game, but much better performance is needed if they are to have any chance of threatening Chelsea on Sunday.Victor Lindelöf’s game by numbers vs. Villarreal:100% ground duels won 100% aerial duels won 100% tackles won 92% pass accuracy 65 total touches 8 clearances 2 blocks 0 fouls Played a key part in securing the clean sheet. 🔑 pic.twitter.com/libDmEl57h— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) November 23, 2021 What about Villareal? They were the better team, they pressed, they created the pressure and had two good chances, but De Hea was excellent tonight, keeping his time in the game before Ronaldo came to the rescue. They will have to wait for Atalanta – Young Boys match tonight, before they meet the Italians in Atalanta in 14 days.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – Group stageGroup FTuesdayVillareal – Man.Utd. 0-2 (0-0)/Ronaldo 78, Sancho 90/23.00: (4.90) Young Boys (4.00) Atalanta (1.75)
