Man United 3-1 Burnley (McTominay ‘8, Mee OG ’27, Ronaldo ’35, Lennon ’38)
The pre-match birthday celebrations for Sir Alex Ferguson may have been a painful reminder of fading glory for Manchester United but at least Ralf Rangnick avoided disaster on this occasion.
The German manager, the fifth to have held the job since Ferguson’s retirement in 2013, saw efforts from Scott McTominay, Jadon Sancho – who forced Ben Mee into conceding an own goal – and Cristiano Ronaldo clinch victory.
It means that United missed out on the unwanted record of finishing a calendar year outside English football’s top six for the first time in three decades – a fitting gift to Fergie, to go with the giant banner fans unfurled before kick-off to celebrate his 80th birthday on Friday.
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Both teams had started brightly but the key moments of the opening eight minutes both featured errors from Ronaldo – and the second of them led to United’s opener.
The Portuguese forward miscontrolled Mason Greenwood’s intelligent pass back from the by-line, attempting to switch the ball onto his left foot and nudging it straight to McTominay.
The midfielder made the most of his good fortune, burying an unstoppable shot past Wayne Hennessey from the edge of the area.
The eighth minute opener came shortly after Ronaldo had missed a glorious opening, played clean through on goal by Luke Shaw but able only to scoop the ball over from 15 yards.
They were rare examples of Ronaldo displaying poor technique but, to Rangnick’s relief, at least his side was ahead.
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He allowed the England winger to cut into the area and shoot past James Tarkowski and into the far corner via a kind deflection off Ben Mee.
The goals kept coming, with Ronaldo ending a frustrating first half with United’s third after 35 minutes following a brilliant McTominay strike which Hennessy touched onto his post. Ronaldo was well positioned to flick the rebound into the open net from six yards.
Rangnick made six changes from the team that was so uninspired in drawing at Newcastle at the start of the week but early signs were not promising.
After just three minutes, Matt Lowton curled over a superb right-wing cross and the unmarked Chris Wood should have done better with a diving header that was yards wide.
As United sought a second, Shaw livened the crowd with a slaloming run upfield and a powerful shot that hit the side-netting.
And Ronaldo missed another good opening before his goal, played through by McTominay but hesitating and allowing Lowton to block his attempt.
But this is still a United undergoing a major crisis in confidence and identity – especially in defence – and that was not helped when a mistake by Eric Bailly gifted the ball to Aaron Lennon in midfield after 38 minutes.
The veteran forward advanced, with Harry Maguire backing off, and placed a perfect finish past the defender and into the far corner of the United net.
Ronaldo maintained his threat soon after the restart, heading wide from an excellent Greenwood delivery while Edinson Cavani set up a shot for Greenwood who drew a fine parry out of Hennessey.
Burnley threatened sporadically, but the excellent McTominay almost scored again, this time from a good 25 yards out, with a precise effort which Hennessey did well to tip over.
Player ratings
Manchester United
- De Gea – 6
- Wan-Bissaka – 6
- Bailly – 5
- Maguire – 5
- Shaw – 7
- McTominay – 9
- Matic – 5
- Sancho – 7
- Greenwood – 7
- Cavani – 6
- Ronaldo – 7
Substitutes
- Varane – 6
- Dalot – 6
- Fred – N/A
Burnley
- Hennessey – 7
- Lowton – 7
- Tarkowski – 6
- Mee – 6
- Taylor – 6
- Gudmundsson – 6
- Westwood – 6
- Cork – 5
- McNeil – 6
- Wood – 5
- Lennon – 8
Substitutes
- Pieters – 6
- Vydra – 6
- Stephens – 6
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