With two late goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho, Manchester United moved to the last 16 of the Champions League in Michael Carrick’s first game in charge.
The visitors improved in the second 45 minutes after a cautious first half, and Fred’s tackle on Etienne Capoue in the 78th minute fired them into life.
Ronaldo intercepted a questionable pass from goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli, and the tenacious United player pounced on the loose ball, allowing the striker to smoothly loft the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper. Throughout the game, United looked well-organized in defense, but they rarely threatened the opposition defenders until the final 10 minutes.
Jadon Sancho, on the other hand, scored a good goal when he went one-on-one with Rulli late in the game, slamming the ball in off the underside of the crossbar for his first goal for the Red Devils.
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Despite their late counter-attacking game, United’s most outstanding aspect of their performance was certainly their solid defense.
Manu Trigueros forced David de Gea into two spectacular saves, but our back four were equally dominant against their Spanish opponents. As revealed by analyzer Statman Dave, Victor Lindelof stands out as the best defender of the night.
Victor Lindelöf’s game by numbers vs. Villarreal:
100% ground duels won
100% aerial duels won
100% tackles won
92% pass accuracy
65 total touches
8 clearances
2 blocks
0 foulsPlayed a key part in securing the clean sheet. 🔑 pic.twitter.com/libDmEl57h
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) November 23, 2021
With summer signing Raphael Varane out, the 27-year-old made advantage of his opportunity to shine, assisting on United’s third clean sheet of the season.
The Sweden international won all five of his duels, made an incredible eight clearances, and passed with a 92 per cent accuracy rate, showing his remarkable performance and resurgent position under interim manager Carrick.
With Varane set to miss a significant amount of playing time, Lindelof will be hoping to maintain his current form in the coming weeks and fix his spot in the starting XI.
