Cristiano Ronaldo continued with the business of saving Manchester United in the 2021-2022 Premier League campaign by scoring his first league goal against Chelsea on Thursday, April 28, 2022, after 12 attempts.
During the game, after a couple of wasted goalscoring opportunities, Chelsea finally scored the match opener in the 60th minute courtesy of Marcos Alonso’s strike.
Two minutes later, Cristiano Ronaldo found himself in Chelsea’s eighteen-yard box and stroked in the equalizer from a close range in the 62nd minute.
The goal made Cristiano Ronaldo the second-highest goalscorer in this season’s Premier League campaign. He has now scored 17 Premier League goals same as Tottenham Hotspur’s Heung-min Son.
Currently, the only player in the Premier League who has scored more league goals than Cristiano Ronaldo is Mohamad Salah of Liverpool. The 29-year-old Egyptian forward has 22 league goals, five of which were via penalties. This means that Ronaldo has to score five goals to equal Salah’s league goals this season.
As it stands, Manchester United has three Premier League games to go. The games are against Brentford on May 2, Brighton on May 7, and Crystal Palace on May 22.
Based on the current Premier League table, the goals from Cristiano Ronaldo can no longer help Manchester United to break into the top four. They are out of the race.
However, United that are currently occupying the 6th spot on the league table with 55 points in 35 games have the possibility of qualifying for the Europa League or going as low as qualifying for the Europa Conference League.
How Cristiano Ronaldo helped Manchester United in the 2021-2022 season:
When Cristiano Ronaldo left Juventus and returned to Manchester United, a club he played for between 2003 and 2009, most critics called him a problem to the club.
But the 37-year-old Portuguese striker has proven that he is currently the best player at Manchester United as he has risen to become the club’s highest goalscorer this season.
Aside from being the club’s highest goalscorer, he has scored some vital goals both in the Champions League and in the Premier League which helped to save the face of the club to an extent.
Note that Cristiano Ronaldo scored 8 goals in Manchester United’s last nine goals. In the last three games, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner has scored five goals.
In the last two victories of Manchester United (against Tottenham Hotspur and Norwich City), Cristiano Ronaldo scored hat-tricks that won the Premier League games for the Struggling Premier League giants.
His consistency especially in recent games has made pundits in the United Kingdom to start urging the incoming coach of Manchester United, Erik ten Hag not to discard the services of the 37-year-old Portuguese forward.
So far this season, Ronaldo has scored a total number of 23 goals and provided 3 assists in 37 games in all competitions. His contract with Manchester United will officially expire on June 30, 2023.
However, there is an option for further extension in Ronaldo’s contract with Manchester United which could only be triggered if the 37-year-old Portuguese icon continues to impress the club’s board and the incoming coach of the club.
