ENERGIZED by a change of supervisor and one other opportunistic end by Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United certified for the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League with a game to spare Tuesday. One other newly appointed coach sill has work to do, although, to get Barcelona into the final 16. United was led for the primary time by Michael Carrick following the weekend firing of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and, similar to his predecessor, the interim supervisor was left to be glad about a objective by the Champions League’s document scorer. Ronaldo produced a elegant lobbed end to place United forward towards Villarreal and a 90th-minute strike by Jadon Sancho — his first objective since becoming a member of the Red Devils for US$100 million within the offseason — sealed a 2-0 win to safe progress as the winner of Group F. Ronaldo has scored in all five group video games up to now, and now has a record-extending 140 Champions League targets in his profession. One other English side, defending champion Chelsea, defeated already-qualified Juventus 4-0. Juve slumped to its heaviest ever loss within the Champions League. With Liverpool additionally certified and Manchester City prone to be part of them, the Premier League will once more be effectively represented within the knockout stage. Barcelona, now coached by former star midfielder Xavi Hernandez, has superior from its group each season for nearly 20 years. However, a 0-0 draw at home to Benfica means the Spanish powerhouse would possibly must beat Bayern Munich to advance. All four teams in Group G are separated by three factors and will nonetheless qualify heading into their final video games after wins for Lille and Sevilla over Salzburg and Wolfsburg, respectively. Ronaldo had already scored two winners and a late equalizer within the Champions League this season. And Fred and Ronaldo featured in a counterattack that ended with Sancho smashing a shot in off the underside of the crossbar to seal the win. Extra pleasure was to observe as Atalanta’s wild 3-3 draw at Younger Boys meant United can’t be displaced as group leader courtesy of its superior head-to-head document towards Villarreal. (SD-Agencies) | 