Manchester United vs. Brentford result and analysis: Ronaldo inspires United on Mata's Old Trafford farewell

Dom Farrell

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Manchester United vs. Brentford result and analysis: Ronaldo inspires United on Mata's Old Trafford farewell image

OLD TRAFFORD, MANCHESTER — Cristiano Ronaldo dispatched his 18th Premier League goal of the season from the penalty spot as Manchester United lifted some of the gloom around Old Trafford with a 3-0 win over Brentford.

Before United’s final home match of the season there were more fan protests against the Glazer family’s much-maligned ownership and talk of a mass walkout in the 73rd-minute that failed to materialise.

That might have been down to Raphael Varane making the points safe in the 72nd minute with his first goal for the club, on a night when Ralf Rangnick’s side hit the front early through Bruno Fernandes’ 10th of the season.

Fernandes’ compatriot Ronaldo was denied a goal on the stroke of half-time by a VAR offside but he won and converted a penalty after the hour mark to effectively end the challenge of a game Brentford side. 

MORE: Man United squad plans: Who will be out of contract, who should stay?

Christian Eriksen turned in another dazzling display in the eighth match since his return to professional football, and he almost unpicked United from kickoff with a ball over their sleeping defence. Alex Telles just got back to clear ahead of Bryan Mbeumo.

Old Trafford celebrated the deeds of departing veterans Juan Mata and Nemanja Matic on their farewell starts, while Ronaldo was superb throughout. But the ninth-minute opener was all about Anthony Elanga’s youthful verve as he darted down the right flank to deliver a perfect cross for Fernandes to finish.

Mata thought he had a moment to savour when he played in Ronaldo for a 44th-minute finish. However, after the two men embraced, VAR showed the five-time Ballon d’Or winner was fractionally offside.

Fernandes spurned a good opportunity to double the lead after the break, although Brentford were in the ascendancy at the point Rangnick’s men grabbed some breathing space.

Mata conducted the counterattack and Ronaldo burst into the Brentford box from the right, drawing a clumsy foul from Rico Henry.

He finished emphatically before Varane made his less familiar entry to the scoresheet, swivelling home to control a nice finish from Telles’ corner.

Cristiano Ronaldo inspires Manchester United to prove worth again

Plenty of moments on this damp spring evening caused reflections towards days past, not least Ronaldo whirring through stepovers and backheels during the first half like it was 2004. We also got to see the well-rounded vintage performer as the game wore on and, at odds with some of the criticism the 37-year-old has received since his United return, he contributed to all aspects of United’s attacking play. 

Ronaldo’s 53 passes in the Brentford half were more than any of his teammates. The wisdom of his signing from Juventus at the start of a season that proceeded to go off the rails will continue to be debated but there can be no doubt that he is absolutely vital to this team in its current guise. Erik ten Hag will have the final say but, right now, another season together looks mutually beneficial for United and Ronaldo.

Anthony Elanga stands as Ralf Rangnick’s parting gift

Who knows, maybe Rangnick will continue to prove useful to United as he weaves his loosely defined consultancy gig around his recent appointment as Austria head coach. He inherited a dire situation, but the German tactician's failure to make a significant impact upon United’s performances or have any sort of clear role in the club’s long-term future must go down as a disappointment.

However, in Elanga he has elevated a hard-working and intelligent forward playing the game as he likes to see it. The 20-year-old Sweden international asked relentless questions of the Brentford defence as he created both the opening goal and the space for Ronaldo and Mata to run through their repertoires.

Christian Eriksen sets up unlikely transfer bidding war

Less than a year ago, the world looked on in horror as Eriksen fought for his life on the field at Euro 2020. On the other side of his cardiac arrest, seeing the ex-Ajax and Inter playmaker on the field in any capacity is wonderful, but he has been irresistible in Brentford colours. Thomas Frank’s men are all but safe from relegation thanks to his efforts and Eriksen led United’s midfield a merry dance several times on Monday.

Former club Spurs have been linked with a move for the 30-year-old and head coach Frank conceded afterwards that there are no guarantees over the future of a still-sublime talent at the end of the season.

MORE: Worst Manchester United seasons in Premier League history: Where 2021-22 ranks among all-time lows

Manchester United vs. Brentford final score

  1H 2H Final
Man United 1 2 3
Brentford 0 0 0

Goals:
MUN — Bruno Fernandes (Anthony Elanga) — 9th min.
MUN — Cristiano Ronaldo (penalty) — 61st min.
MUN — Raphael Varane (Alex Telles) — 72nd min.

Manchester United vs. Brentford highlights and commentary

Fulltime: A satisfactory goodbye to Old Trafford for Matic, Mata, Rangnick and, who knows, maybe a few others. The fans here clearly hope Ronaldo doesn't become part of that number. He was excellent tonight. The sense of his signing last August will continue to be debated but there's no doubt he's massive for this team in their current state. Ronaldo was the last United player to leave the post-match lap of honour.

91st minute: We're into an obligatory two minutes of injury time. De Gea yahoos another rubbish kick out for a throw-in and somewhere a bald Dutchman winces.

89th minute: As if to prove a point, Toney darts into the United area and falls over with no one near him. At the other end, Fernandes almost puts one into the second tier of the Stretford End.

87th minute: Few players in the game scamper quite like Cavani. The Uruguay striker almost chased down his own mishit overhead kick in the Brentford box there but was flagged offside. Yep, it's become that sort of game. Big end-of-term feel to much of this.

82nd minute: Fernandes fancies his second of the evening and has a long-ranger deflected wide. Blimey - Phil Jones should score from the corner. Imagine you'd walked out and missed that! "Where's your crisis gone?" chortle the Brentford contingent.

80th minute: As you'd expect, the sting has gone out of this a little. It would be hard to distinguish between a walkout and people leaving a little early to beat the traffic at this point.

74th minute: Perhaps a reason for that was the sight of substitutes ready to come on. It mean Mata's curtain call old Old Trafford and he was rapturously received as you'd expect. Edinson Cavani and Phil Jones are on for Mata and Elanga.

73rd minute: You can't knock Varane's sense of occasion, with his goal preceding the planned protest against the Glazers. "We want Glazers out" chant the Stretford End amid flare smoke. But the planned 73rd-minute walkout does really seem to have occurred to any extent.

72nd minute: GOAL!!!! Varane!!!!

And Brentford don't deal with the corner, leaving Varane free to swivel home a finish on the volley.  That's his first goal in United colours.

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71st minute: Oof! A cute Ronaldo pass with the outside of his boot almost sees Jansson put through his own goal. United corner.

70th minute: Off comes Matic on his his farewell Old Trafford appearance to a standing ovation. Fred is on in his place.

67th minute: Half-hearted shouts for handball after some pinball in the United box. It hasn't always been pretty but Lindelof and Varane have had plenty to deal with tonight and done so pretty well.

66th minute: Kavanagh stops play for a possible Ronaldo head injury at a corner. He springs up immediately and the Brentford fans are pretty unhappy. Eriksen has them back on their feet soon enough with another great cross that McTominay does well to clear.

64th minute: Ronaldo really is revelling in this now and ducks in from the left wing, just like the old days. He takes a tumble and Kavanagh is unmoved.

61st minute: GOAL!!!! Ronaldo!!!!

Absolutely no mistake there. Ronaldo absolutely welts it into the left corner, sending Raya the wrong way.

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60th minute: PENALTY TO UNITED! Brentford had their hosts under the pump there, but Mata engineered a counter attack and Henry blundered into Ronaldo. No prizes for guessing who's taking it.

57th minute: Mbeumo looks for Eriksen with a testing ball to the back post. Lindelof made vital intervention. United then make a collective nonsense of defending the corner, with De Gea forced into a trademark save with his boot from Toney.

55th minute: Fancy a shot he did! But De Gea was equal to it, tumbling away to his left.

54th minute: Eriksen surges past McTominay and Matic pulls him back to earn a yellow card. He might fancy a shit here but we're almost 35 yards from goal.

53rd minute: Ooohhhh, that should be 2-0. Matic joins in with the rolling back the years club and lofts a fine ball beyond the Brentford defence. Fernandes has the whites of Raya's eyes in his sights but pulls just wide of the far post.

49th minute: Dalot roving forward now, exchanges a pass with Ronaldo and hits the bar via Raya's body. The flag is up though, because Ronaldo was offside again.

48th minute: Another sumptuous delivery from that man Eriksen. He finds Ivan Toney in oceans of space. Alas, he performs as competently as the United defence and slices wildly off target. 

47th minute: We're back. United's centre-backs fan outwards for short passes, De Gea batters one long to the opposition. One for Ten Hag's dossier.

Halftime: Brentford head back to the changing rooms boosted by both that let-off and a generally enterprising display. United are good value for their lead, mind. It might be a low bar but that was as watchable as Rangnick's men have been in weeks. Catch you in 10.

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44th minute: Goal for Ronaldo! Oh, hang on... no VAR has shown the five-time Ballon d'Or winner was fractionally offside. A shame because that was a lovely moment for Mata, who thought he had a farewell assist. Ronaldo embraced the popular Spaniard instead of his usual "SIUUUU!" antics. By the same token, given the part Brentford have played in this half, a 2-0 half-time deficit would have been harsh.

41st minute: It's nearly half-time and Eriksen has sent Fernandes for an early hotdog. From a short corner routine, the silky Danish playmaker sent his opponent entirely the wrong way. Unfortunately, he could not find the end product to match.

38th minute: A delicious Matic through-ball to Ronaldo results in a United corner that the Brentford defence take care of.

37th minute: Ohhh, not far away. Mbeumo, who has been so lively, fires into the side-netting from the right of the penalty area. De Gea probably had it covered in all fairness.

36th minute: United have another free-kick in a dangerous position, with Christian Norgaard the offender on Fernandes this time. Telles clumps a tame delivery into Raya's gloves.

32nd minute: Mata finds Ronaldo in the box. Those are some absolutely glorious feet from United's number seven to find the return pass. Mata cuts across the shot and sends it just wide. That would have brought the house down.

29th minute: Mata with some excellent pressing from the front there. Where's he been all season. Great veteran toil all over the place as Ronaldo tears back to win a rapturously received tackle on halfway.

27th minute: Dalot makes his contribution to United's pantomime backpass competition but Brentford's corner comes to nought.

25th minute: Ronaldo plays the ball in field and continues his run. Mata slips a lovely pass in his direction and he goes down with Roerslev in close attendance. No penalty, though, because contact was negligible. 

24th minute: After the usual theatrical build-up, David Raya grasps a bouncing effort at the second attempt.

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23rd minute: Elaga providing so much of the threat for United. Again he catches out the Brentford backline, is sent tumbling by Sorensen and Ronaldo likes the look of this position about 30 yards from goal.

22th minute: Matic strokes a fairly nonsensical backpass in De Gea's direction from about 40 yards away and the keeper clumps it out for a throw under pressure. From that attack, Eriksen is again afforded too much room to aim a cross towards Toney, who heads over.

20th minute: Ronaldo cuts menacingly in-field and finds Fernandes. His compatriot looks for a sharp return pass but Brentford captain Pontus Jansson reads it and does just enough.

19th minute: Fernandes fairly clearly wins a corner off Roerslev but the officials give a goalkick, prompting our latest outburst of Portuguese rage. 

18th minute: Dicey moment for Brentford defender Rico Henry, who dallies on the ball and almost has his pocket picked by Elanga. Henry recovers to just about win the ball, albeit more by luck than judgement.

17th minute: Amid chants of "Viva Ronaldo" from the Stretford End, Mbeumo gets up at the back post but can't direct his header on target.

15th minute: De Gea sends a goalkick sailing over Ronaldo's head and out for a throw-in. United's top scorer is about as impressed as you'd expect.

11th minute: Brentford are back into their work and Eriksen sends a speculative attempt into De Gea's gloves.

9th minute: GOAL!!!! Fernandes!!!!

Brilliant from Elanga, who darts in behind the Brentford defence and produces a killer cross from the byline, leaving Bruo Fernandes with the the simple task of dispatching his 10th goal of the season

7th minute: Anthony Elanga is barged over in the box by Mads Bech Sorensen after Telles sends a cross in his general direction. Referee Chris Kavanagh isn't interested.

4th minute: Mads Roerslev sends a dipping cross towards the back post that David de Gea pushes behind worrying it will drop into his top right corner. The United goalkeeper punches the resulting corner clear from under his crossbar.

3rd minute: Chance at the other end for Ronaldo! Diogo Dalot floats a lovely ball towards his compatriot. You'd back him once he gets the chest control off but the greasy Old Trafford surface lets him down. Brentford respond by attacking again. Frenetic start.

1st minute: Good grief, Brentford kick-off and are almost immediately in on goal. It's a gorgeous Christian Eriksen pass but United were sleeping. Alex Telles scampers back to thwart Bryan Mbeumo.

1 min to kickoff: We're ready to go. The crowd has filled out quite nicely in the circumstances and we have a pretty good atmosphere, with the Brentford fans merrily goading their hosts at every opportunity.

10 mins to kickoff: Jaap Stam has just been on the pitch to enjoy a warm reception. In his day the Dutchman would have relished the physical battle United's centre-backs have in store against Ivan Toney. How Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof shape up against Brentford's top scorer could be key to tonight's outcome.

15 mins to kickoff: The teams are back inside for their final preparations on this damp spring evening in Stretford. There's a danger of reading a little too much into such things due to the predicaments of each club, but Brentford's warm-ups seemed to have a lot more structure and purpose.

30 mins to kickoff: In contrast to their hosts, Brentford are in a rich vein of form right now that has moved them clear of the relegation zone. Christian Eriksen's arrival has had a galvanising effect on Thomas Frank's squad, who have reached the feted 40-point mark thanks to a run of five wins in their past seven matches.

Games against Southampton, Leeds and Everton come after this, meaning the Bees could theoretically get sucked back into trouble, but there's no reason why they shouldn't be targeting a mid-table finish to cap a superb debut campaign in the Premier League.

40 mins to kickoff: An update on the protests outside the ground, which reached the Munich Tunnel that runs under the Bobby Charlton stand. The press room is in the same part of the ground and a strong smell of flare smoke wafted up there a few moments ago. Either that or someone's had a nightmare with the latest batch of lasagne.

Anyway, it seems the entrances to the tunnel have now been blocked as a precautionary measure, but the protests are continuing in a peaceful fashion.

50 mins to kickoff: And here's how Brentford line-up.

1hr to kickoff: A single change for United and one that should go down very well with fans as Juan Mata gets his first Premier League start of the season in place of Marcus Rashford.

1hr 10 mins from kickoff: Once again there are protests outside Old Trafford against the Glazer family's much-criticised ownership of United. Riot police are in attendance but everything has remained peaceful so far.

1hr 25 mins from kickoff: "This is not the fall of Manchester United; this is a stumble along the way, and when you stumble, you regain your balance so you can carry on moving forward." Stirring stuff from Rangnick in his final programme notes at United. However, they begin with the interim boss acknowledging that they were written before Thursday's 1-1 draw against Chelsea. He's since been appointed as Austria's head coach.

1hr 45 mins from kickoff: Well, of all these seasons in Manchester United's illustrious history, this one is by far the most recent. Brentford are the visitors for what will be Ralf Rangnick's final game as manager at Old Trafford and it could also be farewell from a number of the playing squad, with a summer of change anticipated - and, perhaps damningly, hoped for - under incoming boss Erik ten Hag.

2hrs from kickoff: Hello and welcome to The Sporting News' live coverage of Manchester United's final home game of the Premier League season against Brentford.

MORE: Who is Erik ten Hag? New Manchester United manager playing style, clubs managed & trophies

What channel is Manchester United vs. Brentford?

  UK USA Canada Australia
Date Mon, May 2 Mon, May 2 Mon, May 2 Tues, May 3
Time 20:00 BST 15:00 ET 15:00 ET 05:00 AEST
TV channel Sky Sports Premier League USA Network, Universo — —
Streaming NOW TV/SkyGo fuboTV DAZN Optus Sport

UK: The match will be televised by Sky Sports and streamed on NOW TV and SkyGo.

USA: Man United-Brentford will be televised by USA Network (English) and Universo (Spanish) with both channels streamed on fuboTV, which is available on a free trial to new subscribers.

Canada: In Canada, every Premier League game streams live on DAZN. 

Australia: Optus Sport carries every Premier League match in Australia.

Dom Farrell

Dom Farrell Photo

Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.