IT WAS only ever going to be one man.
Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring for Manchester United’s must-win clash against Tottenham with a sublime far-post volley.
The Portuguese talisman peeled off Spurs’ defender Ben Davies to fire home from a Bruno Fernandes chip.
Both sides went into Saturday’s late kick-off in the Premier League desperate for three points.
United have spent a week in turmoil following the 5-0 humiliation they suffered at the hands of arch rivals Liverpool a week ago.
Spurs meanwhile have been struggling to build any sort of momentum as boss Nuno Espirito Santo chops and changes.
The first half at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium opened with the home side arguably having the best of what limited chances were available.
Spurs defender Cristian Romero had the ball in the back of the net but was rightly ruled to have been offside.
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United gradually came into the game as the first half wore on and eventually they found themselves laying siege to the hosts’ 18-yard line.
Some neat passing between Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw led to Fernandes taking possession just outside the penalty box.
He produced a delicate chipped through ball to Ronaldo lurking on the far post.
The 36-year-old watched it drop before slamming home from close range.
He then wheeled away to the touchline and dropped to his knees to celebrate the release of a week of pressure.
And that set United on the way to a crushing 3-0 win which would leave Nuno Espirito Santo, rather than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, as the man facing question marks over his future.
Edinson Cavani and Marcus Rashford bagged the goals in the second half.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
