Cristiano Ronaldo Saves Manchester United Again As Bayern Munich, Juventus Reach Champions League Knockouts
NDTV
Cristiano Ronaldo fired in from the edge of the box a minute into injury time to snatch Manchester United a 2-2 draw with Atalanta in Italy and keep them on course to qualify from Group F.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored another late goal to rescue Manchester United in the Champions League on Tuesday, as his former club Juventus and Bayern Munich both secured qualification for the last 16 with two group games to spare. Ronaldo fired in from the edge of the box a minute into injury time to snatch United a 2-2 draw with Atalanta in Italy and keep them on course to qualify from Group F. The competition's all-time top scorer had earlier cancelled out Josip Ilicic's opener to equalise at the end of a slick team move in first-half stoppage time.
However, having lost Raphael Varane to injury before that, United went behind again in the 56th minute when Duvan Zapata ran through, evading Harry Maguire before slotting in.
The goal was initially disallowed for offside before being given after a VAR review, but Ronaldo thwarted the hosts again with his ninth goal in 11 appearances since returning to Old Trafford and his record-extending 139th goal in the competition.
"We believed until the end. I helped my team get one point," said Ronaldo. "We never give up, it's a good result for us I think."
The 36-year-old also scored an injury-time winner when United came from behind to beat Villarreal 2-1 in September and headed in late on to complete a comeback from 2-0 down to defeat Atalanta 3-2 at home two weeks ago.