Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo marked his return for Manchester United with two sweetly taken goals and an assist in his first game on English soil since the World Cup.
The tricky midfielder answered his critics in perfect style with his performance and temperament in the pre-season friendly victory over Oxford United, despite heavy booing from the home fans at The Kassam Stadium throughout the Red Devils’ 4-1 win. United’s management have been unerring in the faith they showed the youngster after the controversy following his exploits at this summer’s World Cup. And on the evidence of his performance against the Conference outfit on Tuesday night, they were wise to do so. Ronaldo was all-smiles right from the word go and was a constant torment to the Oxford defence. He laid on the game’s opening goal for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and scored a strong volleyed return from Louis Saha for the second, and both within the first ten minutes. Darren Fletcher hit a strong drive to make United’s lead 3-0 after just 16 minutes of the game. Oxford new boy Rob Duffy grabbed one back for the home side on 27 minutes, with a solid header, but it was Ronaldo’s night and the winger doubled his tally with a curling shot early in the second half. Sir Alex Ferguson’s men were never really troubled in the game, but he will be pleased with the run out for his World Cup stars and particularly the attitude and potency of his talented starlet.
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