MANCHESTER UNITED VS BRIGHTON Good evening all and welcome to our live-text coverage of Manchester United vs Brighton. Ralf Rangnick’s men are stuck in a pattern of playing well for 45 minutes, scoring once, emerging from half-time completely decrepit and then conceding for a draw. It’s happened three times in a row. So, can Ronaldo and co stop the rot against a Brighton side that hardly concede and look pretty tidy themselves? Stay with us and find out. KO is at 8.15pm.
Premier League / Matchday 18
Old Trafford / 15.02.2022
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- Cristiano Ronaldo(51')
- B. Fernandes(90+7')
Live
Live Updates
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Updated 15/02/2022 at 22:10 GMT
60'
TROSSARD OFF, LAMPTEY ON
Trossard makes way as Brighton make a tactical change, bringing Lamptey on.
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On
T. Lamptey
Brighton & Hove Albion
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Off
L. Trossard
Brighton & Hove Albion
Fouls1
Corners1
58'
CREDIT TO ELANGA
Big kudos to Elanga for forcing Dunk into that mistake.
He had no choice but to bring him down because Elanga stole the ball from, underneath his feet.
That's the Rangnick way!
55'
DUNK SENT OFF!
The ref has had a look and changed that card!
It's RED!
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Red card
L. Dunk
Brighton & Hove Albion
Fouls1
Red Cards1
54'
VAR TIME
Wait, what's this?
The ref is checking to see whether that is, in fact, a red card for Dunk.
52'
DUNK BOOKED!
It's all kicking off now. Elanga gets the better of Dunk at the back and the defender has to drag him down. Huge shouts for a red from basically everyone in red inside the ground.
But it's a yellow.
Fernandes is booked for his complaints too.
51'
GOAL! MANCHESTER UNITED 1 BRIGHTON 0 (Ronaldo, 51')
That's what he can do!
Out of absolutely nowhere Ronaldo picks the ball up in midfield, jinks to the right to take four Brighton defenders out of the game before absolutely smashing the net from outside the box.
He knows exactly where the net is.
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Goal
Cristiano Ronaldo
Manchester United
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Goals1
On target1
Blocked Shots1
Free Kicks1
50'
LONG BALLS NOT WORKING
Plenty going over the top for United and finding nobody.
Fernandes gives McTominay a shouting at as the Scot flings a long ball over the top of everyone.
2nd Half
46'
LET'S GO AGAIN
No changes at the break.
End of 1st Half
HALF TIME
Brighton well on top and Moder walks off in disbelief that he didn't put his side in front.
Plenty for United to think about because they have been dreadful.
See you in 15.
44'
RONALDO WHACKS THE WALL
Nothing more to add...
43'
FREE KICK TO UNITED
Dangerous position, and so nearly inside the box as MacAllister brings down Elanga.
41'
BISSOUMA GOES WIDE
Moments later Bissouma's first-touch shot inside the box flies inches wide of De Gea's right-hand post.
Brighton so on top.
40'
WHAT A SAVE! WHAT. A. SAVE!
One for the De Gea scrapbook.
Moder leaps highest to a Trossard cross but his header is clawed away by a diving De Gea.
It's such a difficult save but he even manages to get it clear.
38'
CUCURELLA ON FIRE
Brighton left-back Cucurella is such a handful and Dalot is struggling to handle the flank on his own.
Potter is out to applaud his players but neither side has had a chance since those two in the first ten minutes.
34'
BETTER FROM UNITED
Finally some possession from Rangnick's side. Not much, but some.
Elanga looks lively up top as he dummies the ball leaving Shaw for the shot, but the left-back miscues completely.
30'
MCTOMINAY STRUGGLING
McTominay has given the ball away a fair bit and, of all the United lot, he's the one struggling to get anywhere near the Brighton midfield.
Fred is doing a lot of running at least, but McTominay looks lost.
26'
UNITED RELY ON COUNTER
Rangnick's men are very much dependent on the counter attack here, soaking up all the pressure from Brighton, letting them have the ball before unleashing Sancho or Elanga down the wings.
Ronaldo is the hold-up man with Fernandes threading the through balls.
It's quite hopeful though because the Seagulls are barely giving the ball away.
22'
BRIGHTON PRESSING
For all the hype surrounding Ralf Rangnick and his high-pressure style of football, you'd be forgiven for thinking the German was incharge of Brighton tonight.
They are pressing United all over the pitch.
17'
UNITED BREAK
Fernandes sends Sancho racing down the left and he slips in Elanga inside the box, but Cucurella is there to tidy things up and just uses his strength to keep the youngster off the ball.
13'
BRIGHTON DOMINATING POSSESSION
The Seagulls have seen 70 per cent of the ball in the opening stages...
And I may have been wrong about who was making all the noise.
Chants of 'Is this a library?' are dominating the ground at the moment.
11'
UNITED CHASING SHADOWS
The United fans are in full voice and making all the noise but Brighton are on top here and dominating midfield.
Those two early chances from Trossard and Sancho were remarkably similar and both exposed two defences that were struggling to chase backwards.