Michael Carrick, who temporarily replaced the sacked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on the Manchester United bench, decided to leave a first mark and made some changes to the squad that opened tonight (Tuesday) against Villarreal in the important game in the fifth round of the Champions League.
Donny van de Bike, Alex Tels and Anthony Martial started at 11, Bruno Fernandez, Luke Show and Marcus Rashford went down to the bench, but in the end it was again Cristiano Ronaldo who made the difference and led the English to a 0-2 victory.
It was not a great United game.
Villarreal got into a number of winking situations thanks to its fast front, but often missed as it does all season and came across a wonderful day of David de Gea between the posts.
12 minutes to the end the goalkeeper on the other side, Hronimo Rolly, erred in his delivery and paid dearly for it.
The stray ball reached Ronaldo, and the Portuguese took advantage of this to bounce in his sixth goal of the season and 140th in his Champions career.
In added time United gained a moment that could be significant later in the season - a great attack ended with a goal from Jaydon Sancho, his first since arriving from Dortmund, which set up a 0-2 draw that sent the Red Devils to the quarter-finals.
Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates first, Photo: Reuters
Cristiano Ronaldo Celebrates, Photo: AP
The one that has already secured its place there is Bayern Munich, who despite a very lacking squad and playing under tremendous snow maintained a perfect balance with a 1: 2 victory over Dynamo in Kiev.
Robert Lewandowski managed to deliver in these difficult conditions one of the most beautiful goals of his life - a perfect narrator who raised his balance to nine goals in five championship rounds.
Robert Lewandowski with a narrator from another world, Photo: AP
Kingsley Coman later made it 0-2 and Dennis Harmsch just shrank towards the end.
