Rooney and Ronaldo destroy Spurs
Cristiano Ronaldo the star of another United win
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Steven Gerrard is again unavailable for Liverpool for Saturday's clash with Hull City. |  |
Saturday, 25, Apr 2009 08:44
Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Manchester United to an incredible 5-2 win over Tottenham at Old Trafford.
The title race looked to be well and truly back on as Tottenham took a shock 2-0 half-time lead with goals from Darren Bent and Luka Modric.
But United made an astonishing comeback in the second-half as they scored five goals in 14 minutes with Rooney and Ronaldo grabbing two each, and Dimitar Berbatov scoring the fifth goal.
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp and defender Jonathan Woodgate warned United in the lead-up to the game that their side could derail the Reds charge to another title and they looked to be exactly right in the first-half.
The visitors took the lead after some surprisingly poor defending from Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic. Spurs full-back Vedran Corluka floated a ball into the penalty area which the United defensive duo failed to clear and the ball fell to Bent who finished from six yards out.
More lacklustre defending saw Spurs go two up three minutes later. Another ball into the United area, this time from Aaron Lennon, found Modric with time and space and he chested the ball down before firing past Edwin van der Sar.
Old Trafford was left stunned at half-time, not only by the scoreline, but the way their side had played. Their only notable effort came from a long distance Ronaldo shot, while Tottenham had dominated the half.
But that all changed in 14 amazing second-half minutes as Rooney and Ronaldo came to the fore and inspired United to a memorable win.
It all started with a penalty as Heurelho Gomes was penalised for bringing down Michael Carrick and Ronaldo smashed home the spot-kick.
United had brought on Carlos Tevez at half-time and it was the Argentinian who released Rooney down the left-wing, before the England striker cut-inside on his favoured right foot and beat Gomes on his near-post.
The champions took the lead two minutes later as Rooney floated a ball into the Spurs penalty area and Ronaldo burst into the area and thumped in a header.
Ronaldo repaid the favour to Rooney as this time he crossed the ball into the area and it was Rooney who celebrated the goal, despite the desperate efforts of Woodgate to try and keep the ball out.
Berbatov bundled in a late fifth and refused to celebrate afterwards, although it is unknown whether he did that as a sign of respect to his former club or because he had been booed earlier in the match by a section of the United fans.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will not care about that as the win sees his side reclaim top spot from Liverpool.