Erik ten Hag is confident Cristiano Ronaldo will hit his stride after scoring his 700th club goal – and his first of the 2022-23 Premier League season – in Sunday's 2-1 win at Everton.
Ronaldo had endured a frustrating campaign prior to his outing at Goodison Park, a ground on which he had never previously scored a Premier League goal, but he proved decisive after entering the fray in the first half.
Antony cancelled out Alex Iwobi's opener before Ronaldo replaced the injured Anthony Martial, and the 37-year-old quickly made his mark by firing a left-footed finish beyond Jordan Pickford.
That strike was Ronaldo's 700th in club football and his 144th across two spells at Old Trafford, and ensured United bounced back from last week's derby thrashing by Manchester City.
Speaking at a post-match news conference, Ten Hag congratulated Ronaldo on his landmark and backed him to hit a rich vein of form in the coming weeks.
"That is really impressive, when you score 700 goals," Ten Hag said. "It's a huge performance, I'm really happy for him.
"I congratulate him on that performance and I'm also happy it's his first goal this season in the Premier League. He had to wait for it and I'm sure there will be more goals.
"I think every player needs it, even when you are the best in the world, you need it, you need the goals.
"I worked with many goalscorers, especially them, they need goals in every season to have that feeling, to have the confirmation of their intuition.
"Once they have some goals, they come in the flow and games go easier. That will happen with him as well."
United had lost eight of their previous 10 away league games ahead of their trip to Merseyside – including last Sunday's dismal loss at the Etihad Stadium, and Ten Hag was pleased with the improvements on display.
"First of all, criticism is normal when you have a defeat, especially in a big game, in a derby, so we have to deal with that and you learn lessons," Ten Hag added.
"In this moment, we collect the points, it's not looking at the table, we have to win every game – it's our aim.
"We have to improve every game, we have to improve the process, we have to prepare every game 100 per cent and we demand from the players that in every game they give their best.
"You see in this game, the spirit is really good in the squad – it's not only the 11 players.
"Again, a sub coming on and scoring a goal, you see Victor Lindelof, Scott McTominay and Raphael Varane coming in, so we use more than 11 players and I am happy with that process."
United goalkeeper David De Gea also praised Ronaldo following the win, hailing him for maintaining a professional attitude despite starting just one league game under Ten Hag.
"He's never been in this situation before, but the way he works and trains, it's just unbelievable," De Gea told BT Sport. "It's not easy times for him, but he showed he's a great player."
With De Gea's United contract expiring at the end of the season – although the club has an option for an extra year – the Spaniard also revealed he would like to commit his future to the club.
"I'm just very focused on the games, helping the team as much as I can," he added. "Of course, I would like to be here for more years, so let's see what happens in the future. I'm really, really happy here."
St. Louis City v LA Galaxy: Reus sets sights on silverware after dream start
Marco Reus is desperate to bring silverware to the LA Galaxy after making a flying start to his time in MLS, with St. Louis City the destination for his first road game on Sunday.
Reus registered a goal and an assist on debut last week as the Galaxy beat Atlanta United 2-0, maintaining their grip on top spot in the Western Conference.
The Galaxy are five points clear of local rivals Los Angeles FC at the top of the standings ahead of Sunday's trip to St. Louis, who are 13th and 10 points adrift of the playoff picture.
Reus' arrival in Los Angeles has caused plenty of fanfare, but he is focused solely on the team's collective aims.
"It's not about me, it's about the team," he said. "We want to be champions. So we take it game by game.
"Besides the traffic, it's really amazing. The people are so friendly. The weather, it's really nice. When you wake up in the morning and the sun is shining, you start the day differently.
"So I'm really, really happy every morning I come into the dressing room. I'm just happy and excited."
St. Louis played out a thrilling 4-4 draw with the Portland Timbers last week, twice throwing away a two-goal lead to leave interim coach John Hackworth bewildered.
"Really don't know what to say," Hackworth said. "It's hard to imagine coming to a place like this and scoring four goals, being up, and then just losing one-versus-one defensive battles.
"Sometimes, the number of goals you give up, or the number of goals you score, can hide a lot of the transition moments.
"An easy way to prevent some of these defensive miscues from happening is to just be better with the ball."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
St. Louis City – Eduard Lowen
Lowen scored his fourth goal of the MLS season last time out, converting from the penalty spot as St. Louis drew 4-4 with the Timbers.
Only Joao Klauss, with five goals, has outscored him for St. Louis this term.
LA Galaxy – Marco Reus
Reus is one of 20 players in MLS history to record a goal and an assist on his regular-season debut.
He is also the fifth Galaxy player to do so, after Steven Gerrard, Andreas Herzog, Giovani dos Santos and Sasha Victorine. No other team have had more than two players achieve the feat.
MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW
The Galaxy have won 10 of their last 13 regular-season matches, the first time they have done so in a single season since 2011. LA have not recorded 11 wins in a span of 14 matches within a single regular season in the post-shootout era (since 2000).
It would be no surprise to see the points shared in this one, though. All three meetings between St. Louis and the Galaxy have ended level, all with different scorelines (1-1, 2-2, 3-3).
St. Louis have only won one of the last six matches in which they have held the lead in regular-season play dating back to the beginning of June (four draws, one defeat).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
St. Louis City – 35.8%
LA Galaxy – 38.1%
Draw – 26.1%
Raphinha hails Barcelona after statement win over Valladolid
Barcelona forward Raphinha believes the team have laid down a statement of their intent by starting the season with four straight wins in LaLiga.
Raphinha scored the first hat-trick of his career and also delivered two assists on Saturday, as Barca crushed Real Valladolid 7-0 at Camp Nou.
Hansi Flick's side already possess a four-point cushion at the top of the table after also recording victories over Valencia, Athletic Bilbao and Rayo Vallecano.
Raphinha believes their results have demonstrated the club got things right in the transfer market, telling Movistar: "Today's game has shown that there is no need for anyone else to come. We are very happy because of that.
"We are in very good shape. The team is working hard. Today's result shows what we are working for.
"We saw that the coach was on the sidelines asking for more goals and that's our mentality.
"We are hungry and want to score as many goals as we can. When we are dominant like we have been, the best way to respect our rivals is not taking the foot off the gas."
Raphinha was one of the players who faced criticism during Barca's trophyless 2023-24 campaign and was rumoured to be on his way out ahead of the new season.
The Blaugrana again battled financial restrictions throughout the window, allowing Ilkay Gundogan to leave in order to secure the registration of new arrival Dani Olmo.
With his future now certain, Raphinha is keen to nail down a starting spot and contribute on a regular basis.
"I don't know if today's was my best game, but it's certainly among my best. I will try to play even better and as much as I can," the Brazilian said.
"I'm very happy to be able to help the team. I feel good. I knew that this season would be very important for me. I'm looking for my best version to help my team-mates and be more confident."
Lazio 2-2 Milan: Leao salvages draw but Rossoneri still winless
Rafael Leao came off the bench to earn Milan a 2-2 draw with Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday, but Paulo Fonseca's side are still without a Serie A win this season.
Milan were in front at the break through Strahinja Pavlovic's eighth-minute goal, the Serbian rising highest to power home a header from Christian Pulisic's corner.
However, Lazio hit back in the second half with Valentin Castellanos and Boulaye Dia scoring in quick succession.
Nuno Tavares' first-time ball into the centre was met by the unmarked Castellanos to level in the 62nd minute, then Dia tapped another Tavares cutback home to put the Biancocelesti ahead four minutes later.
Fonseca reacted by sending on four substitutes, and those changes had a swift impact as three of them combined for the leveller.
Theo Hernandez – who joined Leao in being dropped from the start – picked out Tammy Abraham, and his lay-off allowed Leao to escape Tavares to fire past Ivan Provedel.
The game was preceded by an emotional tribute to the man who led Lazio to their last league title, Sven-Goran Eriksson, who died at the age of 76 on Monday.
A Lazio shirt bearing the Swede's name was displayed on the home bench, while a banner held up by the home fans read: "You brought us to the top of the world... Have a good trip Mr. Sven."
Data Debrief: Milan's slow start continues
New Milan boss Fonseca is already under pressure after overseeing a return of two points from his first three league games at the helm.
It is the first time the Rossoneri have drawn two of their opening three matches in a Serie A season since 2011-12, when they also drew two and lost one,
They went on to finish second that season, just four points adrift of champions Juventus. If a title challenge is to take place this term, rapid improvements are needed.
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