SAN FRANCISCO, October 24, (THEWILL) – Manchester United were defeated by a lone goal at Old Trafford by Italian champions, Juventus, thanks to Paulo Dybala’s goal as Ronaldo returned to the theatre of dreams.
On his return to Old Trafford where he became a mean machine under Sir Alex Ferguson’s tutelage, Ronaldo was given a hero’s welcome by the fans but provided the cross which put Jose Mourinho’s team to the sword.
Juventus took the lead on 17 minutes when Ronaldo’s cross, poorly cleared by Chris Smalling, landed nicely at Paulo Dybala’s feet and the Argentine player slotted in from eight yards to give the Old Lady of Turin a 1-0 lead.
The Turin giants continued to dominate the game and should have been out of sight but chances from Joao Cancelo and Rodrigo Bentancur could not get past De Gea.
The Spanish first choice keeper had to pull off a brilliant double save four minutes from halftime. The 27-year-old stopped Cristiano Ronaldo’s 30-yard free kick and denied Blaise Matuidi from the follow-up as the half ended with Jose Mourinho’s team being played off the park at Old Trafford.
The second half continued where the first ended, Cristiano Ronaldo drawing another top class save from De Gea from an acute angle after being picked out by Caudrado’s return pass.
It took United until the 63rd minute to create their first real chance, a weak Lukaku header from Juan Mata’s cross.
Paul Pogba, silent for most of the game, nearly snatched an equaliser for the Red Devils but his 30-yard strike hit the woodwork and bounced to safety off Juve ‘keeper, Wojciech Szczesny’s head.
Both sides had chances for a goal but the game would end without another, and Maximiliano Allegri’s Juventus kept their 100 percent European record with a 1-0 win.
UCL Tuesday Results
AEK Athens 0 – 2 Bayern Munich
Young Boys 1 – 1 Valencia
Ajax 1 – 0 Benfica
Hoffenheim 3 – 3 Olympique Lyonnais
Shakhtar Donetsk 0 – 3 Manchester City
Roma 3 – 0 CSKA Moskva
Real Madrid 2 – 1 Viktoria Plzen
Manchester United 0 – 1 Juventus
