Manchester United beat Villarreal by 2-0 at Estadio de la Cerámica in a crucial Champions League encounter and booked a place in the knock-out stage of the competition.
The host dominated the proceedings and the Red Devils were very poor for the first 45 minutes. However, following the arrival of Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford in the second half, the story of the game changed completely.
Cristiano Ronaldo gave the lead to the visitors in the 78th minute with the help of a misplaced pass from the Yellow Submarines’ midfielder Etienne Capoue. And Jadon Sancho doubled the margin for the Old Trafford outfit in the dying moments of the game.
Villarreal 0-2 Manchester United:
Following this victory, Manchester United have secured a place for the knock-out stage as a group leader after Atalanta failed to beat Young Boys in the latter game. On the other hand, Villarreal is currently sitting second in the group and require a draw in the last game against the Italian side to secure a place for the round of 16 stages.
After the game, Manchester United’s caretaker boss Michael Carrick was impressed by his Brazilian midfielder Fred’s energetic display and said that he is very good at pressing the opposition. He said on the club’s website:
“Yeah of course it did impress me, the pressing one. If you look back over time, we have pressed as a team, especially on goal kicks and when the goalkeeper got the ball, we do try to press. Sometimes, it hasn’t worked and we haven’t been good enough to do it, but certainly, the intention is to do that. When we have changed our approach and, certainly over the last few years, we have tried to implement that the best we can.”
Carrick further stated that he was delighted with his team’s display on the pitch and they can move further if the Red Devils can perform like this in every game. He said:
“I’m delighted with both goals, I’m not going to take any credit for that, it’s not about my ideas that one, it’s about the lads working hard together and pulling it off. The efforts, endeavours and application tonight, when they put that together, we’re a good team.”
The upcoming fixtures for both teams:
Manchester United will be travelling to London in the next game in Premier League to encounter league leaders Chelsea and Villarreal will welcome Barcelona in the next game in La Liga.
