Villarreal Vs MU 0-2: Ronaldo And Sancho Goals Bring The Red Devils To The Last 16

Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo (Twitter @ManUtd)

JAKARTA - Manchester United secured a ticket to the last 16 after beating Villarreal 2-0 in their Champions League Group F match at El Madrigal on Wednesday morning.

Both goals were scored by Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho. For Sancho, this is his first goal since moving from Borussia Dortmund last summer.

Citing Antara, this result made MU topped the standings which also qualified for the next round with 10 points or three points above Villarreal who took second place.

Job. Done. ✊#MUFC | #UCL

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) November 23, 2021

Villarreal created a number of dangerous opportunities, while MU attacks are still too easy to be broken.

In the 5th minute, the hosts got a goal opportunity through Moi Gomez's shot, but United goalkeeper David de Gea managed to save it.

Five minutes later it was Yeremy Pino's turn to threaten the MU goal when his shot went too wide to the right of De Gea's goal.

The Red Devils played at a slow tempo. They are difficult to get the ball from the opposing team. This made Villarreal more free to control the ball until MU could not create opportunities until the 25th minute.

In the 27th minute, De Gea made a brilliant save by parrying Trigueros' shot after receiving a through ball.

Three minutes later, it was MU's turn to threaten through Ronaldo's header. Unfortunately, the Portuguese player's efforts were still too weak to be easily caught by Villarreal goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli.

Ronaldo had the opportunity to score with a free kick in the 34th minute. However, his kick hit the Villarreal posse. Until the first half after the score lasted 0-0.

After the break, not much has changed at the start of the second half. United played defensively and Villarreal built on the attack patiently.

But after bringing on Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford, United reversed the attacking pendulum.

In the 73rd minute, Manchester United got a golden opportunity to open the scoring through Jadon Sancho kick in front of the penalty box after playing one-two with Bruno Fernandez. However, Rulli parried the ball with his extraordinary reflexes.

Now, playing more comfortable and starting to take over the course of the game.

MU finally broke the deadlock in the 78th minute. Starting from Rulli's pass to the Villarreal defender, Fred quickly grabbed the ball before being struck by Ronaldo with his lob into the empty net. The score became 1-0 for Michael Carrick's squad.

The goal made MU play more attacking to double the advantage.

In the 90th minute, United finally scored a second goal when Jadon Sancho completed a counter-attack scheme to make the position 2-0.

This is Jadon Sancho's first goal for Manchester United since joining from Borussia Dortmund earlier this season. The 2-0 score closed the Villarreal vs. MU match.

Line-up: Villarreal (4-4-2): Geronimo Rulli; Juan Foyth, Raul Albiol, Pau Torres, Pervis Estupinan (Dani Raba 79'); Manu Trigueros (Alberto Moreno 73'), Etienne Capoue, Daniel Parejo; Moi Gomez (Boulaye Dia 85'); Yeremi Pino (Samuel Chukwueze 73'), Arnaut Danjuma.

Manchester United (4-2-3-1): David de Gea; Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire, Alex Telles; Fred, Scott McTominay; Jadon Sancho (Juan Mata 93'), Donny van de Beek (Bruno Fernandes 66'), Anthony Martial (Marcus Rashford 66'); Cristiano Ronaldo (Nemanja Matic 91').