Cristiano Ronaldo ensured he kept up one of his many remarkable goalscoring records with a well-taken penalty for Manchester United in their routine victory over Sheriff Tiraspol.
The Red Devils overcame their Moldovan rivals at the Zimbru Stadium on Thursday evening thanks to a brilliant opener from Jadon Sancho and a powerful spot kick from Ronaldo. The Portuguese superstar stepped up from 12 yards and rifled down the middle after Diogo Dalot was brought down in the area towards the end of the first half.
The result saw United pick up their first Europa League points of the campaign as they bounced back from their 1-0 defeat by Real Sociedad at Old Trafford one week earlier. It was also a significant game for Ronaldo on a personal level, as it presented him with his final chance to open his account for the season before October.
The former Real Madrid and Juventus forward has scored at club level in at least one of August or September in each of the last 17 campaigns - and took that record to 18 consecutive seasons with his penalty against Sheriff. The last time Ronaldo failed to score in the opening two months of a season came all the way back in 2004/05, when he was a 19-year-old at the start of his second term at Old Trafford.
The last few weeks have been some of the most challenging Ronaldo has endured during his senior career. He has only started one Premier League game all season - the 4-0 drubbing by Brentford - and was unable to get on the scoresheet against Sociedad.
However, in the absence of injured duo Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford, Erik ten Hag persisted with Ronaldo up front and was rewarded as he fired his penalty past Sheriff goalkeeper Maksym Koval. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner has spent the vast majority of his career playing in the Champions League, so his strike against the Moldovan club was actually his first goal in the Europa League.
How many goals will Cristiano Ronaldo end the season with? Have your say in the comments!
"Ronaldo needed that goal," Ten Hag said. "Many times he came close [this season], but he wanted that so much. We are happy for him and the team wanted to bring him a goal. You know that Cristiano will score a penalty."
Thursday's clash on the continent is the Red Devils' final fixture before the international break because this weekend's derby against Leeds United has been postponed following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Last Sunday's fixture with Crystal Palace was also called off, so Ten Hag's side have two domestic fixtures which need to be rescheduled.
