Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench to earn Manchester United a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Everton in the Premier League on Sunday, taking his career goal tally to 700 in the process.
Just as United did last weekend in their derby mauling at the hands of local rivals Manchester City, they again found themselves behind early on at Goodison Park after Alex Iwobi curled a sublime strike into the net from 20 metres.
The visitors, however, responded much better this time around and soon levelled things up as big-money signing Antony slotted home, the Brazilian becoming the first United player to score in his first three Premier League appearances.
Substitute Ronaldo then entered the fray unexpectedly early after Anthony Martial picked up a back injury and took only 14 minutes to score his first Premier League goal of the season, his 144th for United across two spells.
United striker Marcus Rashford thought he had made doubly sure of a fifth win in six league games for the visitors late on but his effort was ruled out after a VAR review for handball against the England forward.
Everton never really looked like finding a late equaliser as United held on for a victory that moved them up to fifth on 15 points, nine adrift of leaders Arsenal. Everton's first loss in seven league matches leaves them 12th on 10 points.
"It is tough still counting goals for Ronaldo because every week seems like a new record," fellow Portugal international Bruno Fernandes told reporters.
"I am really happy because he has been working hard to get this goal. Today he got the goal and the win and that is the most important for him, that the team won."
CRISTIANO RONALDO SCORES HIS 700TH CAREER CLUB GOAL 💥 pic.twitter.com/tqfSLp0o8r
— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 9, 2022
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