Ronaldo earns the praise of Rangnick after breaking scoreless run

Ralf Rangnick was delighted by Cristiano Ronaldo's performance as Manchester United kickstarted their Champions League qualification quest with a much-needed win against 10-man Brighton.

Having blown half-time leads to draw three straight matches in all competitions, the Red Devils desperately needed to put three points on the board at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

Brighton flew out of the blocks against the shaky hosts, who recovered from being jeered off at the break to seal a key victory as Ronaldo ended his six-game scoreless streak with a superb effort shortly after half-time.

Albion captain Lewis Dunk was sent off moments later before Bruno Fernandes scored in stoppage time to complete a 2-0 win that moved United up to fourth, albeit some sides below them have games in hand.

"Big win but we still have quite a few games to play," interim manager Rangnick said.

"After three draws, two of them at home, this was a very important win and even so after the first half today.

"Today for a change we had a better second half than the first half and in the second half it paid off, we were more aggressive. We were primed to intercept and attack them in higher positions, so a highly important win for us."

It was a reverse of recent matches, with Rangnick saying "we were Dr Jekyll in the first half" as they floundered against Graham Potter's impressive side.

However, United managed to go into the break level, thanks in no small part to David De Gea, and Ronaldo's exceptional finish gave them the foundations to build on.

"That was an amazing goal," he said. "Not only an important one but an amazing goal. I think overall it was a good performance by Cristiano.

"Energetically, he was on there, he was always trying to help the team-mates, so I