As his team-mates crash and burn, Cristiano Ronaldo rescues Man Utd again with late equaliser

• Ronaldo makes it 1-1 in first-half stoppage time, 2-2 in second-half stoppage time

• Maguire and Pogba make a litany of errors

• Zapata ran riot against United’s defence

They remain a desperate, disparate bunch this Manchester United team but they also have Cristiano Ronaldo and no one is doing more to keep Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in a job at the moment than the indefatigable Portuguese. The argument about Ronaldo causing more problems for United’s beleaguered manager than he solves rings rather hollow on nights such as these.

While team-mates were crashing and burning all around him as sloppiness and individual errors gave way to more desperation and chaos, it was Ronaldo who twice rescued his side at the end of each half with his eighth and ninth goals of the campaign to claim a scarcely merited point for Solskjaer.

When Mason Greenwood hopefully stabbed the ball in Ronaldo’s direction as the clock hit 91 minutes, it was barely a half chance with which United’s No 7 was presented. But his shot was so sweetly and precisely struck from the right of the D that he managed to squeeze the ball in that tiny space between Juan Musso’s right hand and the post to again leave Atalanta to curse his presence. He had been just as electric when starting and finishing the move for his initial equaliser.

This was the third successive Champions League match in which United have fallen behind and on each occasion they have been bailed out by Ronaldo, his latest salvage act here after goals from Josep Ilicic and Duvan Zapata brought the Italians to within touching distance of victory preceding his late winners against Atalanta and Villarreal at Old Trafford. Somehow, United still remain in control at the top of Group F and victory over Villarreal in Spain later this month would see them through to the knockout stage.

Story continues

Look beyond the five-time World Player of the Year’s enduring brilliance, though, and there are so many players going backwards or mired in acute slumps in form that you have to wonder how much longer United and Solskjaer can limp on in this fashion. It is Manchester City next on Saturday and, while Pep Guardiola will doubtless fear the man he tried and failed to sign in the summer giving him more cause for regret, Ronaldo will need a lot more help than this if United are to make a better fist of things against the champions.

Harry Maguire’s crisis is deepening to the point where Solskjaer is doing his captain few favours by keeping him in the team, even if that is likely to remain the case after Raphael Varane succumbed to a hamstring injury less than week after being rushed back from a groin injury.

Paul Pogba is playing like a man who, in mind if not body, has already left the club, the Frenchman’s apathetic performance every bit as bad as his 15-minute cameo against Liverpool before his red card, and even David De Gea, up until now United’s star performer this season, got dragged down with the rest of them on another baffling night.

For 38 minutes, this was a classic example of what happens when a team rigorously drilled in the arts of a back three come up against a side who have dusted the system off a shelf in the hope it can help to paper over the cracks. If Solskjaer had wanted, he could have stuck with the formation when Raphael Varane was forced off with an injury by moving Luke Shaw into central defence and bringing on Alex Telles at left wing back.

But the United manager could see the experiment was patently not working, as it had against an abysmal Tottenham at the weekend, and abandoned it altogether. So on came Mason Greenwood, with United switching to a more familiar 4-2-3-1, and by the end of a first half in which a bright start had given way to the same old failings they were level courtesy of Ronaldo.

They can veer almost seamlessly between the ridiculous and the sublime this United and their goal, a wonderfully slick piece of rapid fire interplay, served as a direct counterpart to the confusion that had reigned for the preceding half an hour when Pogba plumbed new depths, Maguire looked like a man who needs a few weeks on the beach to recover his body and mind and Teun Koopmeiners was free to run the show. Ronaldo played the ball square to Greenwood, who drilled a first time pass into Bruno Fernandes ghosting into the penalty area. Fernandes then had the awareness to flick a back heel into the path of Ronaldo, who had surged into the space created by United’s stealth before steadying himself and finishing with characteristic cool.

United had started well, with Jose Luis Palomino deflecting Scott McTominay’s shot on to a post and Solskjaer’s side pressing high, but the mood changed when Atalanta took advantage of more passive defending and an individual blunder from David De Gea to lead after 12 minutes. There was no pressure on Remo Freuler as United sat back and watched his pass deflect into the path of Zapata, who cut back inside Aaron Wan-Bissaka and played a pinpoint pass across goal to Ilcic, who shot straight at De Gea only for the United goalkeeper to push the ball into his own net.

This was the eighth time in 15 games this season that United have found themselves behind. Control can be hard to assert when you are routinely chasing games.

This was Pogba’s first start in four matches and Koopmeiners – brilliant in and out of possession – revelled in hounding the Frenchman whenever he was on the ball, a tactic that worked a treat and very nearly yielded a second goal when Pogba lost possession on the 18-yard box. Only a superb recovery block from Bailly to deny Zapata spared his team-mate’s blushes. How Pogba lasted until the 68th minute, by which time United were 2-1 down, was hard to know. Palomino’s ball over the top was misjudged by Bailly and allowed Zapata to wheel away into space. Maguire looked like he was running through treacle as he trundled across and lunged desperately at the feet of Atalanta’s speedy striker, who scooped the ball past De Gea. The flag was raised for offside by the Video Assistant Referee overruled the decision.

United, once again, looked down and out. But then Ronaldo does not know the meaning of the phrase.

As it happened by Rob Bagchi

10:18 PM

Ronaldo speaks

10:06 PM

Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand sense punishment is imminent in the derby

“They can’t have that second-half performance,” says Ferdinand. “It was so fragmented. If they go out with that second-half performance against Manchester City, they get slapped again by three, four, five.”

09:57 PM

Full time Atalanta 2 Man Utd 2

Ronaldo to the rescue, grabbing the point with two clinical finishes to keep Manchester United at the top of Group F, ahead of Villarreal, two ahead of Atalanta.

09:55 PM

90+4 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 2

Van de Beek has a tight chance to win it, cutting into the box from the right on to his left to shoot from an angle and Musso makes a good stop to claw it away.

09:54 PM

90+3 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 2

A right-foot volley from 20 yards slotted expertly into the bottom left corner. They’ve become a one-man team. It’s his 139th Champions League goal.

09:53 PM

It stands

Atalanta 2 Man Utd 2 (Ronaldo)

09:53 PM

VAR check

Did Greenwood handle the ball in the build up?

09:52 PM

GOOAL!!

Atalanta 2 Man Utd 2 (Ronaldo). It’s that man again.

09:52 PM

90+1 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

Shaw stands up a free-kick looking for Maguire but he can’t get it on target.

09:51 PM

90 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

United have a free-kick 40 yards out when Koopmeiners knees Cavani in the thigh. There will be five minutes of injury time.

09:49 PM

89 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

Sancho heads away a free-kick floated hopelessly in by Muriel. Cavani kicks the ball out of play as the crowd whistles when Zappacosta goes down screaming after Shaw collided with him. United were on the attack and shouldn’t have bowed to the pressure.

09:47 PM

88 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

Sancho and Van de Beek replace McTominay and Fernandes. They’ll have about seven minutes to make an impact.

09:46 PM

87 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

Zapata, tremendous tonight, wallops a right-foot bouncing bomb of a shot from 28 yards that surprises De Gea as it kicks off the turf and he has to turn it behind at full stretch.

09:45 PM

85 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

Bruno Fernandes’ pass from the left of the box for McTomiany by the D is overhit and another United attack breaks down for want of precision.

09:43 PM

84 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

Still no Sancho. A second stellar talent at least in the antechamber of being ruined by transfers to United alongside Van de Beek. Now both are warming up.

09:42 PM

82 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

It’s as if Maguire has forgotten how to play football. An error on halfway sends Muriel down the inside-right and but for the forward’s poor judgment of when to release the ball for Zapata, Atalanta would have had a great chance to punish the United captain and his side.

09:40 PM

80 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

The corner from the left goes long, Zappacosta returns it from the right and Zapata, under pressure from Bailly, heads it over.

09:40 PM

79 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

Bailly to the rescue again after Cavani gave the ball away on the United right and Freuler found Maehle who crossed for Zapata. Bailly slid in to hook it behind for a corner.

09:38 PM

77 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

United snap into the press more effectively around the Atalanta box and work a shooting chance for Wan-Bissaka whose drive hits Greenwood and deflects away from danger.

09:36 PM

75 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

If Villarreal hold on to beat Young Boys and Atalanta close out victory here both will have seven points with United on six. Should Villarreal beat United at the MAdrigal in the next fixture and Atalanata beat Young Boys, United will be knocked out with a game to spare.

09:33 PM

73 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

Matic’s sweeping cross-field pass hits Muriel on the chest but it had sufficient force to fly close enough to Maguire not to send the Colombia centre-forward clean through on goal.

09:31 PM

71 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

Matic hits a left-foot shot from 25 yards on to Palomino and out for a corner that Shaw bends beyond the box and out for a goal-kick.

Atalanta make their second change – Luis Muriel replaces Ilicic.

09:30 PM

69 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

Just before the substitutions Bruno Fernandes was sent down the right of the box but was taken too close to the byline and also slipped before clipping a shot/cross on to the near post.

09:29 PM

67 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

Double United substitution: Matic for Pogba; Cavani for Rashford.

09:25 PM

65 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

Bailly races over from the right to stop Ilicic latching on to a ball over the top down the right with Maguire again out of position.

09:24 PM

63 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

After some quick, short passing around the Atalanta box as United try to find an opening, Shaw overhits a left-wing cross and the ball fades out of play.

09:22 PM

61 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

Maguire, at fault for the second goal, has a hopeless moment, slipping on the left while in possession. Koopmeiners takes the ball away and tries to centre for Zapata. Once again Bailly bails out his captain. A better cross and that would/could/should have been 3-1.

09:20 PM

58 min Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1

That review took more than two minutes. Man Utd guilty of not playing to the whistle. No point waving and posturing. Deal with it and leave it to VAR to sort out.

09:19 PM

GOOOAL!!

Atalanta 2 Man Utd 1 (Zapata)

It stands after a long VAR review! Maguire was certain he was offside and dawdled with his arm up before dealing with it. Great left-foot, dinked finish.

09:17 PM

56 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 1

Goal!? Zapata steals in from the left to chase the perfect ball into the box and stabs it past De Gea from five yards but the flag goes up and VAR is now checking.

09:16 PM

55 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 1

McTominay is given a final warning after arriving late to tackle Freuler and knocking him over despite trying to keep him upright.

09:13 PM

53 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 1

From the free-kick Maehle gets down the left and reaches the byline before dragging back a cross towards the six-yard box where the vigilant Bailly once again clears.

09:11 PM

52 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 1

McTominay is booked for whacking Maehle in the throat with his left arm while trying to escape from a shirt-tug.

09:10 PM

50 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 1

Mistake from Demiral sets up Bruno Fernandes for a shot from the right of the box which is blocked then a minute later Wan-Bissaka and Rashford play one-touch around the box to send Greenwood down the right of it to thump a shot on to the post. Ah … he was offside. De Roon is now man-marking Bruno Fernandes.

09:08 PM

48 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 1

Zapata is caught offside from Koopmeiners deflected shot that balloons into the box. Bailly hits the deck but after half a minute gets up and seems OK, at least for now.

09:07 PM

46 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 1

Berat Djimsiti, returning from a broken arm, replaces Pasalic and De Roon moves into midfield while the Albania international slots into the back three. Zappacosta bombs down the right from the kick-off, cuts inside and Maguire makes a very good sliding interception/tackle to stop him crossing or shooting.

08:57 PM

Goals in non-moving format

and the equaliser:

08:53 PM

Here’s the goal

08:52 PM

Half-time Atalanta 1 Man Utd 1

The first time Manchester United found some poise, pace and precision in the final third they are level. It was a lovely move goal but there have been worrying signs down their flanks, when Ilicic ghosts between the full-backs and centre-backs, Zapata causing mayhem with his back to goal and Pogba’s carelessness.

08:49 PM

45+3 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 1

Bruno Fernandes clears a right-wing Atalanta free-kick at the near post following Shaw’s foul on Zappacosta.

08:48 PM

45+2 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 1

Just as the clock ticks past 45 minutes, Ronaldo takes possession centrally 25 yards out from Fernades, shifts it to the right to Greenwood who hits a first-time quick, reverse pass into the box to Bruno Fernandes who takes it forward with one touch then lays it off perfectly with a back-heel flick and Ronaldo, following it in, cushions it and then buries a shot into the left side of the goal with his right foot from 12 yards.

08:46 PM

GOOOAL!!

Atalanta 1-1 Man Utd (Ronaldo)

08:44 PM

44 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 0

Pogba tries to work the ball into the box but Palomino picks it off. United have four more subs to make – Pogba must be in danger of being replaced. He’s having a mare.

08:42 PM

42 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 0

Zapata turns Bailly 30 yards out. He’s sensational with his back to goal but his pass inside to Pasalic is miscontrolled and lets United off the hook.

08:40 PM

40 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 0

More alert and well-timed defensive work from Bailly thwarts Zapata at the expense of a corner that United defend well but when they counter it’s not quick enough and Atalanta race back to stifle them with numbers.

08:39 PM

38 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 0

A corner from Atalanta strikes Fernandes on the hand completely inadvertently and the referee justly turns down the home demands for a corner.

Varane departs to be replaced by Greenwood. United revert to their pre-Spurs 4-2-3-1.

08:37 PM

36 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 0

Varane is down and doesn’t look likely to continue. He just sits down during play to alert the trainer.

08:35 PM

34 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 0

Ilicic buys a cheap and frankly cheat’s foul by chucking himself on to the grass when going up with Shaw who may have brushed him lightly.

08:34 PM

32 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 0

Pogba is a liability at times defensively and owes a huge debt to Bailly for launching himself across the box to block Zapata’s half-volley after the Atalanta centre-forward had to wait a little too long for the ball to drop. Pogba had dribbled it back towards his own box from the right and then his backpass strikes Koopmeiners and sits up awkwardly for Zapata who had a clear sight of goal from 12 yards … but for the acrobatic Bailly.

VAR checks whether Bailly also took out Zapata before the ball or it hit his arm but it is rightly deemed a fair and sensational block.

08:31 PM

29 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 0

Atalanta have rediscovered their composure on the ball and are enjoying more possession. McTominay is required to be alert to prevent Ilicic playing the ball into Zapata after the centre-forward had held the ball up with his back to goal.

08:28 PM

27 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 0

Shaw blocks Zappacosta’s pass, Maguire is first to the afters and launches it long but De Roon easily tidies up before Ronaldo can get close. Would have been better to have Rashford going for it but he was tucked in on the left.

08:26 PM

26 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 0

Koopmeiners chips a pass from left to right for Zapata to chase. Varane closes him down and boots it out for a throw-in on the right, parallel with the 18-yard line.

08:24 PM

23 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 0

Zapata, despite looking a mile offside, is allowed to carry on down the right, cut in and wastefully shoot high, wide and hideous when Pasalic had a tap-in if he had squared it. Was Bailly playing him onside? Didn’t look like it.

08:21 PM

21 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 0

Ronaldo is given a hard heading opportunity from the right of the spot when he wanted the ball to feet to shoot from Pogba. Leaning backwards he can neither get the power or height to beat Musso.

08:20 PM

19 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 0

Ronaldo is penalised for bumping Musso who was trying to catch Maguire’s cross under his cross-bar after Shaw’s free-kick from the left bobbled over to the right and the United captain chased it down. It”s all United since the goal.

08:18 PM

17 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 0

Terrific, deep right-wing cross from Ronaldo, ‘put on an absolute plate’, as Glenjamin Hoddle would say, for Luke Shaw on the volley. He smashes it straight into the grass from where it bounces wide of Musso’s goal. Was a difficult chance but should have done better than that.

08:16 PM

15 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 0

United attack straight from the kick-off, sending Ronaldo haring down the middle but Musso bravely comes out to smother the ball, barrelling Ronaldo over in the process as the No7 chased it down.

08:14 PM

13 min Atalanta 1 Man Utd 0

Zapata gets the better of Wan-Bissaka down the left of the box after the ball is deflected towards him from a McTominay prod. Zapata squares it to Ilicic who shoots through Shaw’s legs and surprises De Gea, squeezing under his body as it swerved late. There was a belated VAR check because Pasalic may have obscured De Gea’s view while in an offside position but they award the goal. Poor from De Gea.

08:12 PM

GOOOAL!

Atalanta 1-0 Man Utd (Ilicic)

08:11 PM

11 min Atalanta 0 Man Utd 0

Nice pass from Ilicic with his left down the inside-right after feinting to pass with his right. Pasalic, tacking in from the right, thumps a shot with his left straight at Maguire’s shins and away from goal.

08:10 PM

10 min Atalanta 0 Man Utd 0

Pasalic hooks the ball from 25 yards out into the box for Zapata. Maguire steps up and asks for offside which the referee agrees with but it looked tight. No matter as De Gea would have got there first anyway.

08:09 PM

8 min Atalanta 0 Man Utd 0

Ilicic earns a free-kick after a push by Pogba on halfway and McTominay brings down Pasilic when they take it.

08:07 PM

7 min Atalanta 0 Man Utd 0

But Koopmeiners then loses the ball, United break through Shaw who manipulates it up to Rashford whose shot from the left of the D is deflected over to the right off De Roon’s shins and McTominay shoots from the other side of the D. His strike is fairly tame but takes a big deflection which sits Musso down stranded as it trickles towards the other side of the goal and hits the post. Atalanta scramble it clear.

08:05 PM

5 min Atalanta 0 Man Utd 0

Nothing sticking for Manchester United so far and Atalanta are stringing passes together up right and left.

08:03 PM

3 min Atalanta 0 Man Utd 0

Freuler and Maehle combine to take it up the left but Wan-Bissaka stands tall to make the tackle at the expense of a throw which Atalanta take no advantage from.

08:02 PM

2 min Atalanta 0 Man Utd 0

Bailly, playing in the middle of the back three, passes out to the left to Shaw who, under pressure from Ilicic, chips a long diagonal, left to right, straight out of play.

08:01 PM

1 min Atalanta 0 Man Utd 0

The stadium’s capacity has been reduced to 15,000 but both sets of supporters are making an impressive racket as Man Utd kick off after all 22 players take the knee. Varane pings the ball 410 yards upfield and after some pinball Ronaldo slices a shot straight at Musso.

07:58 PM

The teams are in the tunnel

Both in their home kits with Manchester United in their Euro white socks.

Ce sont les meilleures équipes
Sie sind die allerbesten Mannschaften
The main event

Die Meister
Die Besten
Les grandes équipes
The champions

Our co-commentator is Steve McManaman who has almost nothing to live up to following Robbie Savage’s hysterically one-eyed performance at Old Trafford.

07:50 PM

Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand move into the pundits’ chairs

Scholes: As soon as you saw the team, it looked solid. Tottenham were in a mess so we can’t get carried away. Going away in Europe is never easy. It will be a tough test and we’ll see what they’re made of

07:37 PM

Your teams in black and white

Atalanta Musso; De Roon, Demiral, Palomino; Zappacosta, Freuler, Koopmeiners, Maehle; Ilicic, Pasalic; Zapata. Substitutes Sportiello, Rossi, Muriel, Pezzella, Malinovsky, Djimsiti, Scalvini, Miranchuk, Lovato, Piccoli.

Manchester United De Gea; Varane, Maguire, Bailly; Wan Bissaka, Bruno Fernandes, McTominay, Pogba, Shaw; Rashford, Ronaldo.
Substitutes Henderson, Mata, Martial, Greenwood, Lingard, Fred, Dalot, Cavani, Sancho, Alex Telles, Matic, Van de Beek.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

06:56 PM

Zapata does start for Atalanta

06:48 PM

Manchester United make three changes

Bailly for Lindelof, Pogba for Fred and Rashford for Cavani.

06:24 PM

Good evening

A fortnight ago Manchester United were 2-0 down at half-time against an Atalanta side who were slicker, more adventurous, more precise in their passing and who exposed all the flaws of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s defensive set-up including an infestation of individual errors that were bred by collective positional unreliability and tactical indiscipline. Coming on the back of a 4-2 defeat by Leicester City and the support from ‘the singing corner’ adjacent to the tunnel notwithstanding, there was a genuine sense that United were drowning in uncertainty and incoherence.

Forty-five minutes later they were 3-2 victors after digging deep to inject more pace, poise and intensity into their attacking and caught Atalanta, who were missing defensive stalwarts Rafael Toloi and Robin Gosens, and lost Merih Demiral at half-time. It put them top of the group on six points, two ahead of Villarreal and Atalanta, papering over a few cracks before they were thumped by Liverpool the following weekend.

It was that defeat that finally provoked a reaction, not from the board as many urged, but from the manager and his coaching staff who returned to three at the back for the first time since they were beaten by RB Leipzig last December, paired their two venerable centre-forwards from the start for the first time and steam-rollered Spurs.

It may have seen off the threat from Antonio Conte, or so the cliche goes. I’m not so sure Manchester United, having been burned by their Jose Mourinho experience more profoundly than they let on, would ever have contemplated installing a manager as resolutely sovereign and demanding as Conte. Wary of another high turnover of players and a manager who leaves little legacy, in the manner of Louis van Gaal and Mourinho, they seem intent on restoring the club and its ‘culture’ as a long-term project. There will never be another Ferguson but that is the template, the Busby template, they want to employ and will look for when contemplating a successor for Solskjaer … whenever that might be.

Atalanta, who always play three at the back under Gian Piero Gasperini, recovered from their second-half reverse at Old Trafford by coming back from 1-0 down at Sampdoria to win 3-1 and twice equalised to take a point off Lazio, will surely start with their best striker Duvan Zapata in Bergamo. Using him from the bench in Manchester was a curious decision and his strength and intelligent application of it would be one way of trying to unsettle Manchester United’s new defensive set-up if, of course, Solskjaer has the nous to stick with it.

Groin strain news tells us Atalanta will be missing Rafael Toloi, Matteo Pessina, Berat Djimsiti, Robin Gosens and Hans Hateboer again. For United Victor Lindelof has not travelled, Edinson Cavani may be rested with Saturday’s derby in mind but Paul Pogba, serving a three-match suspension in domestic competition, is available.

Join us for the team news from about 6.30pm

Source