Man United vs Chelsea LIVE: Premier League result and final score as Cristiano Ronaldo salvages point
Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea: Marcos Alonso’s opener was cancelled out by Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo’s fifth goal in three games salvaged a point for Manchester United in a 1-1 draw against Chelsea on Thursday that further damaged his team’s chances of a top-four finish in the Premier League.
Ronaldo ran onto a ball over the Chelsea defense from Nemanja Matic and delivered a clinical finish in the 62nd minute, two minutes after Marcos Alonso gave the visitors the lead.
Reece James later curled a shot against the post for Chelsea, which dominated the first half but found United goalkeeper David de Gea in fine form.
With only three games left to play in the league, United stayed in sixth place — five points behind fourth-place Arsenal and having played two matches more than its rival for Champions League qualification.
Tottenham is between the two teams, in the fifth spot, with three more points than United and two games in hand.
Chelsea consolidated third place and is six points above Arsenal.
Ronaldo came into the game having scored a hat trick against Norwich and another goal against Arsenal in his previous two games.
On 17 goals, Ronaldo is tied with Son Heung-min in second place in the Premier League scoring chart behind Mohamed Salah.
Man Utd 0 - 0 Chelsea
33 mins: Nemanja Matic is having a decent game for Man Utd. He’s covered a lot of ground and is always willing to track back and help out defensively. Alex Telles needs the help as he’s being asked to cover both Mason Mount and Reece James which is an impossible task.
James swings a cross into the box and finds Havertz who guides his header straight at De Gea!
Man Utd 0 - 0 Chelsea
30 mins: Rudiger switches the play over to the right wing where James is in bags of space. He brings the ball under control and rolls it into the box for Mount who gets flagged offside.
Man Utd 0 - 0 Chelsea
Man Utd 0 - 0 Chelsea
27 mins: Save! Chelsea calmly slot the ball around Scott McTominay and feed N’Golo Kante into United’s final third. He times his through ball expertly and sends Kai Havertz sprinting into the box. Havertz has Mount across the area as an option but goes for goal and fires his effort into the chest of De Gea!
Man Utd 0 - 0 Chelsea
24 mins: Thomas Tuchel looks a little frustrated on the sidelines. His team are playing the smoother, more effective football but they’ve been lacking that final clinical pass.
Cristiano Ronaldo dribbles the ball into the Chelsea box and is closed down by three defenders. Jorginho wins it for the Blues and Ronaldo goes down hoping for a penalty that would never have been given.
Man Utd 0 - 0 Chelsea
21 mins: Manchester United try to break through the combination of Fernandes and Rashford but Rashford gets tackled and puts United on the back foot. Mount collects the ball and brings it into the final third before sending it wide to Werner. Werner cuts inside and threads it into the box to match Mount’s run behind the line. Havertz is waiting for the ball in the six-yard box but Mount’s pass across is too close to De Gea who manages to smother it.
Man Utd 0 - 0 Chelsea
18 mins: Antonio Rudiger is encouraged to shoot from outside the ball and his effort is blocked by Victor Lindelof. The ball squeezes out to N’Golo Kante who makes a run into the left side of the area and flicks it over to the middle of the box. Alex Telles gets there first and heads the ball clear sparking a counter-attack for United. Ronaldo takes the ball forward and runs into trouble but Bruno Fernandes arrives to help out. Marcus Rashford is the only runner through the middle but Fernandes can’t pick him out and his pass gets intercepted.
Man Utd 0 - 0 Chelsea
15 mins: The United corner is swung into the middle and is won by Varane in the air. He nods the ball across to Cristiano Ronaldo who attempts a spectacular overhead kick and fires his effort wide of the near post! This is better from the home side.
Man Utd 0 - 0 Chelsea
12 mins: It’s a lovely pass from Nemanja Matic to thread the ball through the Chelsea lines and give Marcus Rashford the chance to carry it into the box. He does and comes up against Cesar Azpilicueta. Rashford ducks and weaves but there’s no way past the Chelsea captain who nudges the ball out for a corner.
Man Utd 0 - 0 Chelsea
9 mins: Save! Manchester United are having problems at the back. Shocking I know.
Chelsea bring the ball down the left wing with Alonso pushing high and linking up with Timo Werner. Diogo Dalot and Victor Lindelof come out of position to close them down but Chelsea work the ball into the middle and draw Alex Telles forward. Reece James jogs into the open space on the right side of the penalty area, receives the ball and then sees his shot blocked by a scrambling Raphael Varane.
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