Ronaldo missed a penalty on the weekend match against West Ham, and it proved a crucial miss as Manchester United stumbled 1-2 to the Hammers.
Ronaldo continued his fine form by scoring the opening goal in the 14th minute. United seemed close to seal the game when Jonathan Spector was alleged to have handle the ball in the box in the 2nd half… but Ronaldo missed from the spot kick (68th minute).
West Ham players were perhaps inspired by the miss and fought back… and deservingly scored twice (77th and 82nd minute) to take the lead. The scoreline was kept intact and West Ham won the match 2-1.
You don’t see Ronaldo missing penalties often… in fact this is his first miss as far as I can remember. Despite the miss, Ronaldo was still the better United player in the match… it was not a good performance from the Red Devils overall.
Manchester United showed no mercy for their former captain Roy Keane as they crashed his side, Sunderland 4-0 at the Stadium of Light.
United started without some of their key players, but they proved too much to handle for the Black Cats. Sunderland started the game decently and had a few chances, but couldn’t threaten United’s keeper. Experience tells that it would mean deep trouble for Sunderland, as United would be ready to pounce on when they started to control the rhythm of the game.
The Red Devils didn’t need to wait long, as Wayne Rooney scored the opener on 20th minute from a wonderful pass by Wes Brown. Rooney then turned provider on 30th minute… his cross found Louis Saha and the French didn’t waste the chance to make it 2-0.
Cristiano Ronaldo then sealed the game for United just before the half time whistle to make it 3-0.
The game was still very much under United’s control at the 2nd half… Alex Ferguson even had the luxury to substitute Ronaldo on 59th minute with Park Ji-sung, who was playing his first competitive game of the season after his operation.
Louis Saha’s 86th minute penalty was very much icing on the cake. Manchester United claimed the top spot of EPL and would stay there for at least a few days as Arsenal had only managed a draw with Portsmouth in a later match.
Ronaldo scored twice in the match, including a late penalty to give Manchester United all 3 points against Everton at Old Trafford.
Ronaldo scored the opening goal of the match with a superb strike on 22nd minute before Everton equalised just minutes later through Tim Cahill.
As the game was heading to the final whistle, Everton’s Steven Pienaar needlessly brought down Ryan Giggs in the box and presented United with the penalty, which was calmly converted by Ronaldo.
Frankly, a draw should be the fair result… MU players were not at their best, and Everton gave a good fight. Ronaldo made the difference.
AC Milan Brazilian playmaker Kaka was named as FIFA’s World Player of the Year on Monday (Dec 17) ahead of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
World Player of the Year is picked from a poll by the coaches and captains of 165 national teams (they can’t vote for their team mates). This is Kaka’s 2nd major personal award in a month after winning the European Player of the Year.
Ronaldo is on a goal scoring spree… he scored his 12th goal in 9 games at weekend match against Derby County. Manchester United won the game in the end with 4-1.
Manchester United have benefited from Ronaldo’s great form. They already qualified for the knockout stage in UEFA Champions League, thanks to a Ronaldo’s injury time goal against Lisbon.
MU also closed their gap with Arsenal in English Premier League to one point after the league leader unexpected slip against Boro. Ronaldo’s three goals in the last two EPL matches played important role as well.