Cristiano Ronaldo ended his goal drought as Manchester United claimed a 2-0 victory over ten-man Brighton and Hove Albion at Old Trafford on Tuesday evening.
Result: Manchester United 2-0 Brighton and Hove Albion
Date: 15 February 2022
Venue: Old Trafford
Ralf Rangnick made three changes to United from the draw with Southampton three days ago, with Fred and Anthony Elanga replacing Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford in the starting XI, while Raphael Varane dropped out due to illness as Victor Lindelof stepped in.
Brighton had the first chance with five minutes gone. Elanga was sloppy in possession and Jakub Moder got played into the box down the right and his effort towards the near post was saved by the legs of De Gea.
The Seagulls were packing the midfield and doing well to prevent United from playing out from the back, while they were also looking the more threatening side going forward.
Indeed, Graham Potter's men had enjoyed 58 percent of the possession by the half-hour mark. De Gea once again had to come to the rescue for the Red Devils. Joel Veltman found himself in acres of space down the right and crossed for Moder, who headed towards the top left corner, but United's goalkeeper made a good diving save to his right to repel the danger.
Rangnick's side started the second half with greater urgency and intensity and took the lead in the 51st minute through none other than Ronaldo. Bissouma was dispossessed by Scott McTominay, who laid it off to Ronaldo on the edge of the box and the Portuguese superstar dribbled past his marker and fired a powerful effort into the bottom right corner.
Just moments later, Lewis Dunk brought down Elanga as the last man and was initially given a yellow card but after it went to VAR the decision was rightfully overturned to a red.
United almost put the game to bed in the 71st minute. Sanchez gave the ball away straight to Ronaldo, who teed up Bruno Fernandes and his shot was straight at Fernandes with the rebound falling to Ronaldo but he was unable to find his countryman once again as the chance went begging.
The Red Devils survived a massive scare in the 77th minute. Moder surged infield from the left hand-side and fired towards the top right corner but it unluckily came back off the crossbar.
United did not make it easy for themselves and left it until very last action of the match to close out the encounter when Pogba's quick-free-kick caught the Brighton defence off guard and allowed Fernandes to surge into the box and slot calmly past Sanchez.
