Cristiano Ronaldo proves Man Utd swansong is far from over with throwback brilliance

IT was a throwback moment, it might even have been one of his final hurrahs.

For periods of this game, Cristiano Ronaldo looked every year of his age, huffing, puffing, throwing the customary hissy-fit or two.

The idea of the 37-year-old being some sort of meaningful contributor to the Manchester United cause next season seemed a touch fanciful.

Bringing him back was a lovely, romantic coup but the swansong can only last so long.

And when he capped a miserable first half by duffing a free-kick into the wall, it was symbolic of his struggles.

But maybe the jeers at the end of the first 45 minutes cut deep or maybe he simply dredged into that deep well of brilliance to come up with the moment of the match.

Or rather, the match-winning moment.

Thanks to a rare mistake, Yves Bissouma lost possession and Ronaldo darted inside and, with minimal back-lift, snapped the crispest of strikes inside the post.

Totally against the run of play, out of nothing, just a moment of clinical excellence.

Brighton, in total control until then, were rattled and were soon down to ten men when the VAR told Peter Bankes to look at the monitor and agree with him that Adam Webster would not have got to the ball ahead of Anthony Elanga, who had just been brought down by Lewis Dunk.

Off went Dunk and off went Brighton’s hopes of turning a decent display into points, their misery complete when Bruno Fernandes added a breakaway second deep into added time.

It was harsh on them because while the Ronaldo strike was a magical moment, it was out of keeping with the overall United performance.

In truth, they were lucky to be level going into the decisive second half, David de Gea, with a smart stop from Jakub Moder, yet again being called on to atone for the