MAN UNITED 1, CHELSEA 1
Manchester United displayed fight that has been lacking in recent weeks as they came from behind to earn a draw against Chelsea.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored the goal which earned the battling Reds a point against Thomas Tuchel’s side which ought to have won on the balance of play.
But United’s reliance on Ronaldo for goals, who has scored eight of the team’s last nine, was raised at the post-match press conference.
“We rely very much on Ronaldo for goals and I have said previously the focus must be to bring in two new strikers,” explained interim head coach Ralf Rangnick.
Chelsea enjoyed almost two thirds possession and had 21 goal attempts to the Reds’ six, but all they had to show for their considerable efforts was a Marcos Alonso goal.
The draw strengthened the hold on third place for Chelsea whose last win at Old Trafford was in 2013.
United, with only one win in their last six games in all competitions, saw their hopes of a top-four finish to secure Champions League football next season all but disappear.
The Reds, with only three games left, remain sixth in the table but are five points behind fourth-placed Arsenal having played two more matches than the Gunners.
There was another diversion for the Reds as it emerged pre-match that Rangnick was about to be named Austria national team manager.
Rangnick added he would remain in a consultancy role with the Reds but that would not prevent him taking another job but refused to speak about the job with which he is linked.
Embed from Getty ImagesReflecting on the game, Rangnick said: “We showed a good reaction in the second half, and it was a great finish from Cristiano Ronaldo. In the first half we were fortunate and needed a few great saves from David de Gea.
“Second half we did better, and we got more control. You could see they are a top team, no coincidence they won the Champions League and we don’t have much confidence and had eight players missing.
“Although it was still a lucky draw, we earned it. At times we saw the gap, but they played with their best 11 and we had players missing.
“We have problems with defending, not compact enough and not physical enough.
“Not only the goal Cristiano scored but his whole performance, his attitude at 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.
“It is Erik’s (ten Hag) and Cristiano’s decision for what he can do next but today his performance was really great.”
Nemanja Matic said: “It was an improvement. We played against a very good team. Maybe they had more opportunities than us but 1-1 is a fair result.
“Tonight looked much better than last couple of weeks. We showed that we didn’t give up and showed good character. So, it was a good reaction from our team.”
Tuchel said: “One team deserved to win and that was us. We didn’t take it. It was a very, very good performance but we were not decisive enough. We lacked a bit of determination in the box to win the game.
“It sometimes happens. It’s on us to learn from it. You need to be clinical to get the reward. We have to live with a point but it’s not a fair result.
“We worked so hard to get the lead and suddenly the opponent gets one free shot and scores.”
Marcus Rashford started for the injury-hit Reds with Cristiano Ronaldo also up front.
Jadon Sancho (tonsillitis) and Harry Maguire (knee) were the latest players to join a lengthy list of absentees.
Jesse Lingard was not involved and Rangnick revealed his absence was due to “personal family reasons”.
Youngsters Hannibal Mejbri, Shola Shoretire, Alvaro Fernandez and Alejandro Garnacho were on the bench.
Antonio Rudiger and Reece James started for Chelseaafter recovering from injuries.
Rudiger, who will leave the Blues at the end of this season, had a groin problem while James had recovered from a hamstring injury.
Ross Barkley and Mateo Kovacic were unavailable because of illness and injury respectively.
Chelsea dominated early possession and carved out two chances with James and Timo Werner both denied by De Gea.
United also had a couple of openings as Bruno Fernandes headed straight at Edouard Mendy and a spectacular overhead kick from Ronaldo cleared the crossbar.
There was another anti-Glazer protest outside the ground with fans not entering the stadium until the 17th minute, the significance of the 17 years the Americans have been in charge.
A banner calling for the Glazers to quit had been unfurled before kick-off and during the match there were also chants against the owners.
Chelsea remained the more dangerous side as Kai Havertz broke clear on the right before firing into the side netting.
Havertz was put clean through by N’Golo Kante only for De Gea to make a brilliant block.
And Havertz remained the main attacking threat as his fierce header was parried by De Gea following a James cross.
Both sides sent dangerous balls across the face of goal early in the second half but neither Ronaldo or Werner, the latter sliding in, were able to convert.
Chelsea had 12 goal attempts before finally making the breakthrough on the hour through Alonso.
James’ cross from the right was headed on by Havertz for Alonso to volley back across the face of goal from eight yards, his fourth goal of the season for the wing back.
The goal sparked United to life, and they were level within two minutes through Ronaldo.
Matic dinked a delight ball over the Chelsea defence. Ronaldo’s control was sumptuous before his half volley flashed into the roof of the net for his 23rd goal of the season.
Ronaldo suddenly had the bit between his teeth as a fierce angled shot was beaten out by Mendy.
United made a double change with 10 minutes left as Matic and Rashford made way for Phil Jones and Juan Mata.
Chelsea were unlucky not to regain the lead when James bent a shot from the edge of the box which struck the upright with De Gea comprehensively beaten.
Rangnick handed a debut in stoppage time to 17-year-old Argentine winger Garnacho.