A late Cristiano Ronaldo winner capped another Manchester United comeback in the Champions League on Wednesday, this time against Atalanta, as holders Chelsea and Bayern Munich cruised to big victories and Barcelona gave their campaign a shot in the arm.
The knives were out for United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as his side found themselves 2-0 down at halftime at Old Trafford, Mario Pasalic and Turkish centre-back Merih Demiral scoring for Atalanta.
However, Marcus Rashford made up for missing a glorious chance just before the interval by pulling a goal back eight minutes into the second half and sparking another remarkable fightback.
In their last Champions League outing three weeks ago, United fell behind at home to Villarreal but came back to win 2-1 with Ronaldo scoring the decisive goal in injury time.
Who else but the #UCL’s greatest-ever goalscorer to head home and send Old Trafford into a frenzy.
This time captain Harry Maguire swept in the equaliser in the 75th minute and Ronaldo rose to head in a Luke Shaw cross to clinch a 3-2 victory nine minutes from time for his record-extending 137th Champions League goal.
“We have a habit of doing this at this club,” said Solskjaer of another come-from-behind success.
United are now top of Group F, two points clear of Atalanta and Villarreal, who won 4-1 away to Young Boys in Bern.
Yeremi Pino gave Villarreal the early lead on his 19th birthday, before Gerard Moreno headed in a free-kick to make it 2-0.
Meschack Elia, the Congolese striker, pulled one back for the Swiss champions in the 77th minute but late goals by Alberto Moreno and Samu Chukwueze sealed victory for last season’s Europa League winners. (AFP)
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