Cristiano Ronaldo hits 700th club goal to give Man United victory at Everton

Cristiano Ronaldo’s 700th career club goal clinched a 2-1 victory at Everton which moved Manchester United to within a point of the top four.

The 37-year-old was only on the pitch due to Anthony Martial’s inability to run off an injury sustained in the warm-up, but it was no great surprise he seized the opportunity afforded him.

Ronaldo had been previously limited to just 207 Premier League minutes by new manager Erik ten Hag, who could not find a place for him in a system which is based on mobility and pressing.

But, while the veteran Portugal international may not be ideally suited to those requirements, he can still show a turn of pace and an unerring eye for goal when he has to and that is exactly how he brought up his landmark shortly before half-time.

Antony’s neat finish had cancelled out Alex Iwobi’s early, sumptuous curling strike to turn the momentum in United’s favour, but it was a passage of mistakes which presented Ronaldo with his moment in history.

Casemiro gave away possession to Iwobi, only for the Everton midfielder to run the ball straight into the path of his opponent, whose immediate response was to send Ronaldo scampering clear down the left wing.

There was only one thought in his mind as he bore down on goal and, while his low strike whistled past Jordan Pickford, the England goalkeeper would have been disappointed to have been beaten at his near post.

The goal typified a scrappy game which was interspersed with moments of absolute quality.

Iwobi’s strike set the tone in only the fifth minute when Amadou Onana robbed Casemiro, allowing Demarai Gray to charge forward and, with United back-tracking, he teed up his team-mate to bend a shot inside David De Gea’s left-hand post for Everton’s 1,500th