Sport - Football

Ronaldo brings up his century in Manchester United’s romp

LONDON: The 100th and 101st goals of Cristiano Ronaldo’s eventful Manchester United career were the highlights of a 5-0 romp for the defending champion against Stoke City in the English Premier League football at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Despite the two goals, it was a trying afternoon for Ronaldo, who looked frustrated at times and allowed a torrent of verbal abuse from the visiting supporters to get under his skin.

Ultimately, however, Ronaldo had the perfect response for those Stoke fans, not only scoring the opening goal but also setting up the pivotal second goal for Michael Carrick on the stroke of half-time.

For good measure, he curled in the final Manchester United goal in the 89th minute with one of his trademark, unerring free-kicks into the bottom right-hand corner from 20 yards.

Dimitar Berbatov added a third and substitute Danny Welbeck scored his first for the club.

Meanwhile, Arsenal’s title challenge suffered a hammer blow as a 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Aston Villa left it nine points adrift of leader Liverpool.

A week after it had reasserted its own title credentials by beating Manchester United, Arsene Wenger’s side suffered its first two-goal defeat at the Emirates Stadium.

An own goal by Gael Clichy and a Gabriel Agbonlahor strike revived Villa’s hopes of a Champions League berth next season and it could have been worse for the Gunners if Manuel Almunia had not saved Ashley Young’s first-half penalty.

Elsewhere, Liverpool racked up its 10th win in 13 league outings, a comfortable 2-0 defeat of Bolton. Liverpool’s win came courtesy of headers in either half from Dirk Kuyt and captain Steven Gerrard.

Liverpool’s first-half dominance saw Kuyt hit the bar before he got on the end of Fabio Aurelio’s cross to give his side a 28th-minute lead with a looping header.

Bolton, which is just two points above the relegation zone, mounted a strong fight back after the break but Gary Megson’s side was killed off after Fernando Torres came off the bench.

The Spanish striker, on the comeback trail following a hamstring tear, found space on the right and picked out Gerrard with a delightful, outside-of-the-boot cross that the England midfielder glanced into the net.

Tottenham’s unbeaten run under Harry Redknapp came to an end when it went down to a 2-1 defeat at Fulham that sent the Spurs back down into the relegation zone.

The results:

Arsenal 0 lost to Aston Villa 2 (Gael Clichy 70-og, Gabriel Agbonlahor 80); Blackburn Rovers 1 (Christopher Samba 47) lost to Sunderland 2 (Kenwyne Jones 49, Djibril Cisse 72); Fulham 2 (Simon Davies 33, Andy Johnson 70) bt Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Fraizer Campbell) 81; Manchester United 5 (Cristiano Ronaldo 4, 89, Michael Carrick 46, Dimitar Berbatov 49, Danny Welbeck 84) bt Stoke City 0; Newcastle United 2 (Michael Owen 80, Obafemi Martins 87) drew with Wigan Athletic 2 (Ryan Taylor 3, Titus Bramble 89); West Ham United 0 drew with Portsmouth 0; Bolton Wanderers 0 lost to Liverpool 2 (Dirk Kuyt 28, Steven Gerrard 73). — Agencies

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