Cristiano Ronaldo rifled the penalty right down the centre of the goal, bulging the net to bag his second of the night and Manchester United’s third with 20 minutes to go.
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Manchester United’s no.7 Cristiano Ronaldo recorded the 800th goal of his amazing senior career on Thursday, with the player registering his first goal against Arsenal. Ronaldo took advantage of Marcus Rashford’s cross at the beginning of the second half to bring up the landmark figure. The Portuguese is clear of Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi in the overall list, with Ronaldo swiftly moving on to 801. The footballer helped Manchester United take all three points from the 3-2 win over the Gunners.
The Red Devils had fallen behind to a bizarre goal, after Emile Smith Rowe struck when David De Gea was down hurt. However, they managed to end the first half all square thanks to a Bruno Fernandes effort. Ronaldo helped United surge ahead in the second half. However, Martin Odegaard quickly levelled to help Arsenal draw level. The Norwegian unfortunately went on to foul Fred in the box, setting up Ronaldo to net the winner from the penalty spot. The victory moves the Reds just three points off the top four in the Premier League. It further meant the end of Michael Carrick’s as caretaker manager, having won two and drawn one of his three matches as the helm.
“It wasn’t an easy decision by any stretch. Anyone that knows me knows how much I love the club. When you’re here you’ve got to dedicate everything and my life has revolved around this place for so long. I did promise my family when I finished playing we’d have some time to spend together and that never happened because I jumped into the coaching role. As things pan out, things happen for a reason and it felt natural to make that decision. It wasn’t easy but I’m not going anywhere. I’ll still be around supporting the boys here and away. My son’s desperate to go to the away days, supporting the boys. I’ve told them I’m doing that and I’ll be supporting them. But yeah it’s the right thing to do for me and my family,” said Carrick in an interaction with MUTV.
Carrick was full of praise for Ronaldo, hailing his ability to deliver astute performances.
“I just think seeing how he goes about his business, his mentality, attitude and obviously quality. To score so many goals, it’s incredible. He’s been terrific this week, especially for me, the things I’ve asked of him and the way he’s gone about his business around the players. He’s been absolutely top, top drawer. So it’s no surprise he scores again tonight, it’s the perfect ending really,” he said.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta expressed his disappointment on not winning the game, but stated that he was pleased as well.
“Well, we scored the first one and after that we had total control of the game. We started to give some very simple balls away in very dangerous areas that opened some spaces for them, and gave them some momentum. We had some difficulties there, (and we) we conceded the goal. The second half I think we started really well again – we had total control, we concede the goal and we reacted really well, we kept playing, and we were dominant in the game,” he said.
“We scored the second one, and then after that we have to go and show the maturity to going and score the third one. In that moment we did not manage well enough that situation, and we conceded the goal. So, I’m pleased with a lot of things that I saw, but being realistic (after) conceding three goals at Old Trafford, it’s very tricky to get something out of the game,” added Arteta.
