Manchester United’s Ronaldo pegs back Chelsea amid anti-Glazer unrest

Quite how Manchester United escaped with a point is difficult to explain although, as ever, Cristiano Ronaldo was a part of the answer. Him and David de Gea, whose defiance has been an isolated positive during a horrendous season for the club. Plus a Chelsea team who simply could not finish. It drove Thomas Tuchel to distraction inside his technical area.

It was Ronaldo who pulled down a pass from Nemanja Matic to rifle home moments after Marcos Alonso had opened the scoring for Chelsea on the hour. The London club, so erratic of late, could easily have been four goals up at the interval while they would waste further chances in the second half.

United remained the disjointed mess that they have become. But the action did not tell the story of a night that was dominated by the latest round of rancour from the United support towards the club’s ownership.

The scene was framed by the latest anti-Glazers protest march by United fans. They lit flares, the smoke from which hung heavy in the air at kick-off time. What a strange feeling it was beforehand, the players emerging from the tunnel above which there was a “Glazers Out” banner; the stadium dotted with hundreds of empty seats. Some of them would be filled when the protesters filed in after the 17th minute – one for each year of the reviled Glazer ownership.

For a supposed glamour fixture, there had been precious little build-up while the fact it had been brought forward from 14 May, when Chelsea will contest the FA Cup final, to the Thursday of a big week of European fixtures added to the low-key vibe.

Chelsea are in crisis for different reasons, the sale of the club in light of the UK government sanctions against Roman Abramovich casting a long shadow, placing so many