Cristiano Ronaldo broke his goal drought to score a Manchester United opener in a 2-0 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion, which propelled him into the Premier League top four on Tuesday.
Ronaldo, without a goal since December and being dropped on the bench by interim manager Ralph Rangnick in some recent matches, responded five minutes later to his critics with a fine finish played by Scott McTominay.
Brighton were the better side before halftime, with United again looking dissatisfied and lacking the spark.
But his hopes of a response after falling behind were damaged when Lewis Dunk was sent off after a foul on Anthony Elanga, an early yellow card being upgraded to red.
United were still unconcerned then and Brighton’s Jacob Modder blocked an attempt against the crossbar before former United striker Danny Welbeck gave a late chance.
Bruno Fernandes gave a flattering look to the scoreline with a well-timed solo goal in stoppage time as United moved past West Ham United to fourth on 43 points from 25 games.
The opening 45 minutes were difficult to watch for United fans, with Brighton seeing a more sophisticated side.
But the boon would have been louder at halftime, for a sensational save by David de Gea to negate Modder’s header.
However, Ronaldo changed the mood after the break.
He went six games without a goal, his driest spell at club level since running seven games without a score between December 2008 and January 2009.
Some even said that his second spell at United was a failure but his target against Brighton was vintage Ronaldo.
When Brighton lost possession and McTominay fed Ronaldo he got away from three defenders and, with minimal backlift, gave a shot to Brighton keeper Robert Sanchez.
“A wonderful goal,” Rangnik said. “Not only an important but an amazing goal and I think overall it was a good performance by Cristiano.
“Energetic, he was always trying to help teammates and I think that’s definitely the best performance by him in the last weeks and a very important goal for us.”
Brighton got themselves in trouble again soon after and the latter were trying to play from behind and the dunk was too accidental, losing the ball to Elanga, who he then pulled back.
Brighton continued to cause United problems despite being down from 10 men and it was a great relief for the hosts when Fernandes broke off the halfway line and sat Sanchez down before scoring a decent goal.
It was only a ninth-place second league loss for Brighton of the season and manager Graham Potter could only marvel at Ronaldo’s quality.
He was “punished by a world-class finish from a world-class player,” he said. “Cristiano Ronaldo is absolutely amazing, world class. Nothing more to say with that.”
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