Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw by Newcastle United on Tuesday (IST) in the Premier League. The Red Devils went behind as early as the seventh minute as Allan Saint-Maximin put Newcastle ahead at St James' Park.
Ralf Rangnick's Manchester United struggled to get anything significant going in the first half as Cristiano Ronaldo understandably cut a frustrated figure. Ultimately, the visitors had to rely on second-half substitute Edinson Cavani to grab the equalizer and walk away from Tyneside with a point.
Manchester United, who returned to action for the first time since December 11, named a strong line-up ahead of the game. Marcus Rashford partnered Cristiano Ronaldo in attack while both Mason Greenwood and Raphael Varane were also named in the starting eleven.
Despite the gulf in class between the two sides, Newcastle refused to pull their punches early on. Sean Longstaff, who made his first start under Eddie Howe, dispossessed Varane and nudged the ball towards Saint-Maximin in the build-up to the opening goal. The Frenchman curled an effort beyond the reach of De Gea from the edge of the box to put the hosts ahead.
Manchester United were shell-shocked and it took them a while to settle down and grow into the game. With the team trailing 1-0, Rangnick introduced both Cavani and Jadon Sancho after the interval.
Cristiano Ronaldo's frustration became evident as Manchester United trailed Newcastle
Cristiano Ronaldo was then booked for a foul on Ryan Fraser after a challenge that perfectly summed up his frustration. De Gea made multiple saves from Saint-Maximin to keep Manchester United in the hunt before the equalizer from Cavani in the 71st minute.
The Uruguayan, who had scuffed a shot earlier, was fortunate to find the back of the net at the end. After the initial effort was blocked, the rebound fell kindly to him and a tame second attempt sneaked into the far corner. Manchester United welcomed it with open arms as Cavani attempted to rally his team-mates in a late push for a winner.
However, Jacob Murphy crashed his shot into the woodwork for Newcastle before De Gea tipped Miguel Almiron's excellent effort over the bar during the dying embers of the game. In the end, Manchester United could consider themselves lucky to have salvaged a point on Tyneside.
The result put an end to Rangnick's flawless start to life as Manchester United manager. With Cristiano Ronaldo and his compatriots enduring a frustrating evening, several users actively reacted on Twitter. On that note, here are some of the best tweets from the Premier League game:
Sonlove23
104
Before he joined them at the start of the season they were playing as a team and won all their matches convincingly, when he joined and the rest teammates were instructed to play for him to score they started losing, the coach was blamed and sacked even though he did perfectly well without him last year, now who will they blame? The new coach? Do you know why Man City, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Real Madrid are strong? They are a team.... They don't look for one player to score goal and take glories.
Ohms141
27
Man United is finish....😂😂😂 Arsenal is on Fire🔥
Sämïwïlz
22
Imagine giving Saint Maximin a guard of Honor [Crylaugh]
Hazazi92
10
Nah bro you always find errors when we lose a match which’s not supposed to be as a fans, he can’t do everything which you all know, he rarely get ball today talked less of scoring it, he play a striker role man and what do you expect when a striker didn’t get much ball from wingers and midfielders, We’re so poor today generally and it’s not CR7 faults so stfu 🤫 messi fan boy 👦
I know u like Cr7 but stop being defensive, the guy just talked about his opinion, we might not know what happens in the dressing room but those who played with him said the same even Bonucci said that they had to play for him to score which shows how being a team thrown out of the equation whenever Ronaldo is in it