Unstoppable Ronaldo masterminds United romp

Manchester United 4-0 Aston Villa

Cristiano Ronaldo continued his irrepressible form for Manchester United with another goal and three assists in the champions’ convincing 4-0 win over Aston Villa at Old Trafford.

The Portuguese opened the scoring with an impudent back-heel, before turning provider as Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney, who scored a brace, got in on the act in what was a superb team performance from the Red Devils.

After seeing off a bright start from Villa, the hosts soon took control and Ronaldo scored his 26th league goal of the season in typically memorable fashion. The former Sporting man reacted quickest to a loose ball inside the area, converting from ten metres with the inside of his right heel to give United an early lead after 17 minutes.

Further example of Ronaldo’s incredible range of talents followed fifteen minutes later when, after a fantastic United move, the Portugal no. 17 delivered a perfect cross to the back post for Argentine striker Tevez to head in to break a recent personal scoring duck.

Rooney missed an excellent chance to make it three and Ronaldo struck the bar with the aid of a deflection before England striker Rooney put the result beyond doubt eight minutes into the second half as a dominant United scored a third.

Clever flick

There was perhaps an element of fortune about Ronaldo’s second assist, with his clever flick seemingly intended for Patrice Evra, but the ball found its way to Rooney, who rounded Carson and slotted home.

United boss Alex Ferguson made a triple substitution ahead of the midweek match with Roma, with former Porto man Anderson coming off the bench and staking his claim for a place on Tuesday with a bright cameo as Michael Carrick, Evra and Rio Ferdinand were rested.

Rooney got his second with twenty minute left to play, with Ronaldo playing a clever ball inside the right-hand side of the Villa defence to leave Rooney with the simple task of placing the ball inside Carson’s near post with a first time finish.

The United number ten was denied a hat-trick by a linesman’s flag, but the impressive nature of United’s performance would seemingly stand them in good stead going into the Champions League quarter-final showdown with Roma on Tuesday evening.

Man Utd:
Kuszczak, Brown, Ferdinand (Hargreaves 62), Vidic, Evra (O'Shea 62), Ronaldo, Carrick (Anderson 61), Scholes, Giggs, Tevez, Rooney
Yellow Cards: Vidic

Aston Villa:
Carson, Reo-Coker, Mellberg, Laursen, Bouma (Osbourne 80), Agbonlahor, Petrov, Barry, Young, Harewood (Salifou 69), Carew (Maloney 41)
Yellow Cards: Bouma

Goals:
[1-0] Ronaldo, 17
[2-0] Tevez, 33
[3-0] Rooney, 53
[4-0] Rooney, 70