Premier League - Ronaldo spares United's blushes

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Premier League - Ronaldo spares United's blushes

Eurosport - Sun, 23 Dec 18:31:00 2007

Cristiano Ronaldo spared Manchester United's blushes as he scored a late penalty to give his side a hard-fought 2-1 Premier League victory over Everton at Old Trafford.

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With the scores level and the home side mounting attack after attack, Steven Pienaar brought down Ryan Giggs in the area with two minutes left, leaving referee Howard Webb with little option than to point to the spot.

Ronaldo, who had already given his side a first-half lead, cheekily chipped the ball into the roof of the net as Tim Howard dived left.

It was his tenth goal in eight matches and his 11th league strike of the season, taking him ahead of Bolton's Nicolas Anelka and Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor as the overall top scorer.

What was to follow was unexpected in a scrappy opening to the match, which saw Webb dish out four yellow cards in the first 15 minutes.

When enough passes were strung together to mount an attack from either side, it became clear that we had the makings of a high-quality match here, and that's exactly what it became after 20 minutes.

The home side, who had already come close when a close-range shot from Carlos Tevez was cleared off the line by the excellent Phil Jagielka, finally broke the deadlock after 22 minutes.

After receiving a pass from Giggs, Ronaldo sidestepped Lee Carsley and fired a left-footed shot beyond Howard from 20 yards out.

Going behind seemed to inspire Everton, and they got back on level terms only six minutes later. Pienaar, who was acting as playmaker in the absence of Mikel Arteta, exchanged some neat passes with Joleon Lescott, who was up from the back line.

He then beat his marker Danny Simpson and crossed in for Tim Cahill, who then out-jumped Patrice Evra to head in his seventh goal of the season beyond the helpless Tomasz Kuszczak, who was standing in for the injured Edwin van der Sar in between the sticks.

Phil Neville missed a decent chance to score against his old club when he shot over from the edge of the box, but United were far more guilty of not taking their chances, particularly as the half neared its conclusion.

First Wayne Rooney's spectacular volley was cleared off the line by the head of Lescott, and Ronaldo then spurned the worst chance of all, shooting over from six yards out after a superb cross from Giggs.

The second half was all about the Red Devils, with Everton keeper Howard - who spent two years with United - making no less than seven first-class saves. The best of them came when Anderson fired a shot in from the edge of the box, forcing the American to use all his body to stop a shot he did not even see until milliseconds before it was on him.

Despite his magnificent performance though, which also saw him stop two Rooney volleys and a well-worked effort from Tevez, it was not to be Everton's day, as Ronaldo's penalty proved.

The defeat keeps Everton in sixth place in the Premier League. They are ahead of Portsmouth on goal difference.

Jamie O'Leary / Eurosport

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