Manchester United have beaten Sheriff Tiraspol 3-0 at home in the Europa League.
The first attack came from an 18-year-old Garnacho. Set to the side by his energy and passion and to run to the Sheriff’s defense, he did exactly that early on, but was intimidated before he could get into the area.
Casemiro saw the goalkeeper off his line and tried to score from deep in his own half, but his attempt was well deflected.
Then it was Antony’s turn, again Garnacho was very involved in the play, he passed it to Ronaldo, who was fouled but managed to get past Antony. The advantage was played and from the front of the area the ball was hit but the goalkeeper comfortably saved it.
Garnacho was all over this game in the first fifteen minutes and as he danced through his defense to the baseline, Ronaldo was waiting at the six yard line but his pass was intercepted.
Outside he went for a corner and Ronaldo’s header went wide, I couldn’t believe it.
However, the best chance of the half came to Bruno Fernandes, from outside the area he tried to curve around the defender and into the bottom corner, but it was not curved enough.
Moments later, Fernandez had a chance to head in but instead headed straight for Ronaldo’s goal. The Portuguese tried to come back and finish off, but he did not get a clean connection and the goalkeeper stopped it.
Eriksen saw a well-saved 25-yard shot and Fernandes couldn’t find Ronaldo with the rebound.
Antony was enjoying himself and, to the dismay of the commentators, attempted a spinning party trick before passing the ball too far past his teammate, who had made a good run.
Out of nowhere, Sheriff had a chance, but after a wonderful ball, Rasheed couldn’t do it.
Two minutes before half time and United made the breakthrough. Eriksen with a powerful corner kick found Dalot’s head and he managed to guide him for his second club goal.
The second half began and Eriksen’s first chance came, after receiving a foul, he took a central free kick from 25 meters but could not prevent it from going up.
Garnacho continued with the spark and the desire he had shown in the first half, confident in the one on one, it was exciting to see.
Ronaldo had a good chance when he cut inside with his right foot and shot, but it went into the top corner.
Ronaldo thought he had doubled the Reds’ lead. Garnacho controlled well with a deft backheel, passed it to Casemiro, who passed it to Rashford to cross into the area, but Ronaldo’s touch was ruled offside.
Moments later, it was substitute Luke Shaw, minutes after coming on, helping halftime substitute Rashford double the lead. Shaw put in a beautiful cross and Rashford rose, guiding a powerful header.
United were dominating possession in this second half just as they had in the first and were on the brink of making the third when Rashford’s shot was saved by the keeper.
A well-crafted corner on the training ground was about to lead to a goal by Garnacho that would have been the icing on the cake for the youngster who had shone all match but went over the crossbar.
Finally Ronaldo got his goal that he had been hungry for the whole match! Great shot and good header from the Portuguese that was initially stopped by the goalkeeper but the GOAT was quick and reacted quickly to explode on the rebound.
United had played well as a team tonight and a confident and dominant performance secured at least a Europa League play-off, but set up a thrilling last-day draw with Real Sociedad next week to try and claim top spot.
Team: De Gea, Dalot (Shaw 63), Malaysia, Martinez (Maguire 45), Lindelof, Fernandes, Antony (Rashford 45), Eriksen, Casemiro (McTominay 63), Garnacho (Van de Beek 79), Ronaldo
