Five-goal thriller at Old Trafford ends in Manchester United’s favour thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s milestone double

Manchester United met Arsenal FC at Old Trafford in Manchester for the closing game of the 14th matchday of the English Premier League. The meeting ended with the Mancunians winning 3-2.

Arsenal’s first goal was the most controversial moment of the match (and maybe of the season). In the 13th minute, Fred flew into David de Gea when a corner was taken. MU cleared the ball out of the box, but Emile Smith-Rowe was first on the rebound. He shot at an empty net when the Spaniard was struggling, giving cause for a whole consilium of referees. A few minutes later the yougster was hugging his team-mates as the goal was allowed.

The head referee whistled only after the ball was in the net and after that neither he nor the video assistant team had the slightest excuse not to count the ball

Then the Londoners began to play very passively, allowing the Manchester lads to force their game. By the end of the first half, the hosts levelled the scoring thanks to the beautiful combination and Portugal’s Bruno Fernandes, who has made his 100th competitive appearance for Man Utd this night.

At the start of the second half, his compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo gave Manchester United the lead after a good sequence of passes.

However, suddenly, two minutes later, Martin Ødegaard equalised, netting his second goal of the season for the Londoners. 

After that, the teams were exchanging dangerous moments until the 70th minute when Norwegian midfielder, who managed to distinguish himself 20 minutes before, made a terrible mistake with a bad sliding tackle in his own box. As a result, Cristiano Ronaldo sealed the victory with a penalty and made the final score 3-2 in favour of the Red Devils.

Thanks to his game-changing impact the 36-year-old managed to mark the jubilee 800th and 801st goals of his magnificent professional career for club and country.

“Our minds are already set on the next game, there’s no time to celebrate! Today’s win was very important to get back on track, but there’s still a long road to go until we reach our destination… Congrats to all my teammates, great spirit tonight!”

said the five-time Ballon d’Or winner after the match.

It has come to light that interim caretaker Michael Carrick is not just stepping down after this match to give way for newcomer Ralf Rangnick, but decided to make this match his farewell and leave the club.

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Michael spoke about it immediately after the match, explaining that he had been weighing up the decision for a long time:

“My time at this great club will always rank as the best years of my career. When I first signed over 15 years ago, I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined winning so many trophies and I will certainly never forget the fantastic memories both as a player and as a member of the coaching team. However, after a lot of thought and deliberation, I have decided that now is the right time for me to leave the club. I want to place on record my thanks to all of the players and a special mention goes to the backroom staff, working long hours with such a great group of people has been a real pleasure and I have made some long-lasting friendships. I am, and will always be, a Manchester United fan and will come to as many matches as possible. I would like to wish Ralf, the staff, the players and the fans all the best for the future and I look forward to being in the stands and supporting the boys as a fan.”

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta admitted he felt his side deserved a better result:

“The reality is, conceding three goals at Old Trafford, it’s very difficult to get any result and when the game was there with 2-2, and we were in our best moment and had total control and dominance of the game, that’s when you have to give the next step and go and win the match and then we didn’t manage one situation, we open up and we concede the penalty and we throw the game away. We are here to win football matches and I’m disappointed because I have the feeling that we deserved more.”

• The result leaves Manchester United 7th with 21 points from 14 games, while Arsenal FC still (23) sit 5th, 1 point from 4th position.

• From 2006 to 2018, Michael played 464 games for Manchester United, winning five Premier League titles, the FA Cup, two League Cups, the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League and the FIFA Club World Cup. He joined the first-team coaching staff after retiring in 2018 and worked under Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.