Cristiano Ronaldo bemoaned Manchester United s late collapse at Young Boys in the Champions League but the superstar is eyeing a quick response from the Red Devils.
Ronaldo made it three goals in two games since returning to United, however, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer s 10 men still suffered a 2-1 loss after Jordan Siebatcheu pounced on Jesse Lingard s misjudged backpass in the 95th minute.
Having equalled former Real Madrid team-mate Iker Casillas record with his 177th Champions League appearance on Tuesday, Ronaldo opened the scoring in the 13th minute in the Group F opener.
The goal made Young Boys the 36th different side Ronaldo has scored against in the Champions League, a record he now shares with Lionel Messi.
But United paid the price after full-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka was sent off 10 minutes before half-time – Nicolas Moumi Ngamaleu s 66th-minute strike restoring parity for Young Boys, who went on to stun the visitors with the last kick of the game.
Ronaldo, whose United travel to West Ham on Sunday as they aim to maintain their unbeaten start to the Premier League campaign, wrote via social media: Wasn t the result we wanted, but now it s time to recover well and focus on the next game!
Wasn t the result we wanted, but now it’s time to recover well and focus on the next game!
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano)
The 36-year-old s strike for United came 12 years and 132 days since his previous Champions League goal for the Premier League club, breaking the record for the gap between goals for the same team in the competition previously held by Javier Zanetti for Inter (11y 315d, 1998-2010).
It was a difficult night for United, who managed just two shots against Young Boys – the fewest Opta have on record in any of their 138 Champions League matches since 2003-04. Their second and final shot of the match came in the 25th minute via Ronaldo.
United lost their first match in a Champions League campaign for only the second time, also doing so in 2015-16 under Louis van Gaal, a 2-1 defeat to PSV.
It was a tough game, a tough surface. Away from home, we found ourselves going down to 10 men, [but] we looked comfortable in the game, United captain Harry Maguire told MUTV, with the club also due to meet Villarreal and Atalanta in the group.
We conceded a scruffy goal which was really unlucky. Although we weren t playing our greatest football and we weren t the biggest threat at the other end of the pitch, we looked really solid, didn t concede many chances and then, obviously, they go away with the victory.
It s the first game in the group, we ve got many games to bounce back, so we must do.
