Ronaldo free-kick secures United victory
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a trademark free-kick
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Saturday, 21, Feb 2009 09:08
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brilliant free-kick as Manchester United overcame Blackburn Rovers 2-1 at Old Trafford this afternoon.
United looked to on course for another comfortable home win as Wayne Rooney gave them the lead. But the Old Trafford faithful were left shell-shocked as Roque Santa Cruz ended United's record of 1337 minutes without conceding a goal.
Ronaldo was once again the United saviour as he thumped in a free-kick on the hour mark. Blackburn had a confident penalty shout turned down late on as Morten Gamst Pedersen looked to be brought down in the area.
After the comfortable 3-0 win over Fulham on Wednesday, Sir Alex Ferguson made five changes with Edwin van der Sar and Nemanja Vidic the notable absentees from the Fulham game.
The changes didn't affect the Reds as they continued to play with the same vigour and it was one of the replacements in Nani who created the opening goal. The Portuguese winger put in a low cross into the box which Rooney score from close range.
Rovers hit back 10 minutes later as Andre Ooijer robbed the ball from Nani in midfield and then strode forward before playing in Santa Cruz, who held off Rio Ferdinand and then rounded Tomasz Kuszczak to score.
United thought they had restored their lead when Jonny Evans headed home a corner, but the goal was disallowed as Ronaldo was penalised for pushing in the area.
Blackburn seemed to gain huge confidence from the goal and started to play the ball around with confidence. They came agonisingly close to taking the lead as Ryan Nelsen saw a shot come back off the post.
It was left to Ronaldo to steal the show as he scored with a trademark free-kick. But United were still slightly lucky to grab three points. Pedersen looked to clearly brought down in the penalty area but the referee waved away Blackburn's appeals.