April 29, (THEWILL) – Despite being dominated for huge sections of the game at Old Trafford, Manchester United held Chelsea to a draw on Thursday night, thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s spectacular finish.
In the first half, it was a case of attack versus defence, as the sluggish hosts allowed Thomas Tuchel’s side to monopolise possession and generate opportunities at will.
David de Gea had a busy evening, being called into action inside five minutes to stop Reece James’ rasping drive and then holding off Timo Werner’s effort shortly after.
Bruno Fernandes’ rare excursion forward at the opposite end resulted in a header straight at Edouard Mendy.
N’Golo Kante was next in line in Chelsea’s drill practice, and when he was found in acres of space, he should have done better from the edge of the box, but his strike soared right into De Gea’s grateful gloves.
Kai Havertz had three of the visitors’ best openings. Chelsea broke first, and Kante found the German in the right channel, but he could only finish from the angle into the side netting.
Kante slid Havertz in again two minutes later, but he could not take advantage of the one-on-one position as De Gea stood tall to block his attempt.
Then, nine minutes before halftime, De Gea reacted once more as the Chelsea striker rose highest to meet a deep cross – despite the fact that the header was directly at him.
Tuchel’s team eventually reaped the benefits of their domination on the hour mark, but were pegged back only two minutes later.
Marcos Alonso was on hand to slam a volley into the bottom corner after Havertz unintentionally flicked on a deep cross from James. United quickly responded, with Ronaldo latching onto Nemanja Matic’s scooped pass over the top and decisively scoring.
Chelsea came the closest to scoring again, with James latching onto Mason Mount’s clever flick and looping a shot just wide of the post.
The shared benefits do not aid either team, with Chelsea staying third despite being eight points clear in the top four battle. Manchester United is still in sixth place, but they have played at least once more than all of their opponents, implying that they may be on the verge of dropping even further once their competitors catch up.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
