Erik ten Hag is "confident" Cristiano Ronaldo will continue scoring after finding the net in his return to the starting line-up as Manchester United eased to a three-goal win over FC Sheriff Tiraspol.
The Portuguese superstar was restored to United's line-up for the first time after storming down the tunnel at Old Trafford following United's dominant two-goal victory over Tottenham last week – forcing boss Ten Hag to axe the star for the following trip to Chelsea last weekend. The forward returned from a temporary exile from first-team training on Monday.
Ronaldo found the net with ten minutes remaining to complete a comfortable victory for United, who unsurprisingly dominated the encounter from start to finish. Ten Hag's side will now need to win away to Real Sociedad by two goals to win the group and avoid a Round of 32 playoff game in the Europa League.
Diogo Dalot had opened the scoring two minutes before the break as he headed home Christian Eriksen's corner before half-time substitute Marcus Rashford doubled United's advantage midway through the second half with a powerful header.
Ten Hag said of Ronaldo after the game, telling BT Sport: "He was great. He created chances and the team creates for him. He needs a goal to get over that point and I am confident he will get more goals.
"I wanted to see Cristiano and Marcus Rashford close together, and that is why we made our planned substitution of taking Antony off. Our substitutions were planned. We are confident going into the final game in what we have to do."
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Speaking on United's showing, the Dutch boss said: "It was an OK performance. You hope to score in the first 30 minutes and be two goals up by half-time, but we took a little longer. But we scored goals, good goals – I am happy with that and the clean sheet. We were well-focused.
"Could United have been more clinical? We always try to get behind the defending line of the opponents, and we can always occupy our opponents in their box better. But you can see that we are doing this in our second and third goals – and how we need to improve."
Rashford, who scored United's second goal with a bullet header, told BT Sport after the game: "They [Sheriff] set up to defend well and play on the counter. It took us a while and got the first goal from a set piece so we're happy with that. Once we went 1-0 ahead, the space opened up and we could have got a few more."
The striker added: "Not getting the first goal quickly leads to a mix between frustration and calmness, you have to be calm to create chances and be clinical in taking them. It's taken a lot of hard work to adapt and change, but we're getting there."
