Ronaldo rescues United in Europe yet again

Cristiano Ronaldo rescued Manchester United in the Champions League yet again as his injury-time equaliser gave them a 2-2 draw at Atalanta.

United’s fond memories of their 3-0 win at Tottenham on Saturday were banished inside 12 minutes when Josip Ilicic fired Atalanta ahead from Duvan Zapata’s cross, with help from David de Gea’s fumble of the Slovenian’s relatively straightforward effort.

A fine one-touch move pulled United level at the end of a familiarly uninspiring first half when Bruno Fernandes’ perfect backheel teed up Ronaldo to take a touch and beat Juan Musso from eight yards.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side came out looking sharper after the break but found themselves behind again 11 minutes into the second period.

Jose Palomino’s ball in behind caught out the United defence and found Zapata just onside, but after beating De Gea at his near post, he was made to wait more than two minutes for a VAR review to overturn the linesman’s initial raised flag.

United pushed but could not find a way to test Musso until more Ronaldo magic in injury time saw the veteran find the bottom corner with a first-time 20-yard effort, for the fifth point he has earned his side in the competition from four games, which lifts them top of Group F and able to qualify for the last 16 with victory over Villarreal next time out.

Ronaldo drags United towards last 16 with crucial double

There was extra intrigue about how United would fare in Bergamo on the back of their born-again performance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, and the early signs were good as Scott McTominay’s deflected strike rebounded off the woodwork after four minutes.

But United’s defence, so watertight at the weekend, took only 12 minutes to breach as McTominay’s attempted interception deflected into Zapata’s path, and after checking back away from Aaron Wan-Bissaka he squared for Ilicic, whose shot into De Gea’s body was bundled into the corner by the goalkeeper’s clumsy save.

Zapata fired a warning shot of the danger his pace would later pose when played in behind by Davide Zappacosta’s long ball, which he lashed wide with Ilicic in space at the far post.

With alarm bells ringing and United returning to form with the half-time break approaching, a moment of brilliance involving three of United’s forwards pulled them level. Fernandes, Ronaldo and Mason Greenwood took a touch each before Fernandes laid the ball off wonderfully for Ronaldo to level things up.

United looked to have been handed a lucky escape when Bailly lost Zapata after the striker ran onto Palomino’s ball in behind and beat De Gea from 12 yards, with an offside flag cutting short the striker’s celebrations.

But a VAR review lasting two minutes and six seconds adjudged he had been played onside by Harry Maguire, and their relief was shortlived.

From there Atalanta looked to see out victory, with Musso barely tested by United in the final half-hour of the game.

But Ronaldo, who had already scored late winners in the visitors’ two previous Champions League games, had other ideas. Greenwood lifted a loose ball into his path on the edge of the box, which the 36-year-old caught with typical precision to nestle the ball inside the far post and rescue United at the death.

What’s next?

Manchester United are back on Sky Sports in a huge match-up with Manchester City on Saturday from 12pm; kick-off at 12.30pm.

Atalanta travel to bottom side Cagliari in their next match in Serie A on Saturday; Kick-off at 7.45pm.