Man United in 2021: Ronaldo's return, Ole out and Rangnick revolution
On this day in 2009, Manchester United put Arsenal to the sword in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final showdown. Cristiano Ronaldo was the star of the show, bagging twice at the Emirates Stadium after Ji-Sung Park had opened the scoring. And the Portugal international also made Arsene Wenger’s dig look rather foolish with his brace in north London.
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And Sir Alex Ferguson was immensely proud of his No 7, saying after the game: "I thought they couldn't handle Ronaldo. That made a big difference.
"The midfield was working its socks off, we had good shape and the defensive positions were covered but we needed someone to give them real problems and Ronaldo in that form, he's a fantastic player,” he said.
"We weren't overcome by Arsenal's start to the game - they were moving and the crowd were going but we kept playing our football.
“Once we transferred the ball to Ronaldo, it was a big problem for them.
"We got a good start and that made the difference. Two quick goals like that against a young team, I don't think, wherever you play, you can recover from that.
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