Last time Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo scored against Chelsea was in the 2008 Champions League final; this is the first Premier League against the Blues.
Cristiano Ronaldo ended his Premier League drought against Chelsea and scored his fifth goal in three games as the striker salvaged a point for Manchester United in a 1-1 draw against the Blues on Thursday that further damaged the Red Devils' chances of a top-four finish in the league.
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In 2008, the Portugal international scored United's most memorable strike against Chelsea, as he headed home from Wes Brown's cross in the Champions League final. However, before Thursday, Ronaldo had never found the net against the Blues in the Premier League.
The 37-year-old ran onto a ball over the Chelsea defence from Nemanja Matic and delivered a clinical finish in the 62nd minute, two minutes after Marcos Alonso gave the visitors the lead.
Following this strike, Ronaldo wrote on Instagram, "Thanks for the support in Old Trafford tonight. As always, our fans were amazing in their effort to help the team.💫🙏🏽"
Ronaldo, who recently lost his newborn son, came into the clash having scored a hat trick against Norwich and another strike against Arsenal in his previous two games. On 17 goals, the Portuguese star is tied with Tottenham's Son Heung-min in second place in the Premier League scoring chart behind Liverpool's Mohamed Salah.
"Not only the goal Cristiano scored but his whole performance, his attitude at the age of 37, this is not normal to do that. If he plays like he did today, he can still be a big help to this team," interim manager Ralf Rangnick said.
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. In the fifth spot, Tottenham is between the two teams, with three more points than United and two games in hand. Chelsea consolidated third place and is six points above Arsenal.
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