the times | Tuesday March 15 2022 2GM 63
FootballSport
triumphs, he was surrounded by confi-
dent, serial winners. At United, he had
Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Wayne
Rooney beside him. At Real his com-
pany included Iker Casillas, Sergio
Ramos, Xabi Alonso and Raúl.
United may have won three
Champions League titles, but at present
their squad belongs in the second tier of
European football, and not with the
likes of Manchester City, Bayern
Munich, Liverpool and Chelsea, all of
whom are in the top tier.
Victory tonight, against a team whohave reached the final twice in the past
eight years, will go some way to proving
that United can still compete with the
continent’s strongest squads.
On the other hand, defeat would all
but end United’s hopes of competing in
next year’s Champions League given
that they are fifth in the Premier
League, one point behind Arsenal, who
have three matches in hand.
The good news for Rangnick is that
Bruno Fernandes and Luke Shaw have
recovered from Covid so he has a full
squad to choose from.
Geoffrey Kondogbia, Atletico’s best
player in Madrid three weeks ago, did
not train last night at Old Trafford.Probable teams
Manchester United (4-3-3): D de Gea — D Dalot,
R Varane, H Maguire, A Telles — P Pogba, Fred,
B Fernandes — M Rashford, C Ronaldo, J Sancho.
Atletico Madrid (3-5-2): J Oblak — S Savic,
J Giménez, Reinildo — M Llorente, Koke, H
Herrera, R De Paul, R Lodi — J Félix, A Griezmann.
Referee S Vincic (Slovenia).
Kick-off 8pm. TV BT Sport 2. Radio BBC 5 Live.English clubs in Champions League quarter-finals
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-21*Since increase to four entrants
from Premier League1234TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER BRADLEY ORMESHERRonaldo celebrates his winner against Atalanta in the group stage with ShawFor Cristiano Ronaldo one of the most
enduring memories of this season’s
Champions League run came shortly
after Manchester United’s 2-2 draw
against Atalanta in November.
Tucked away in a corner of the pitch
at Stadio di Bergamo, Ronaldo received
dog’s abuse from the Atalanta fans as he
conducted a post-match interview a
few minutes after he had scored a vital
91st-minute equaliser to keep his team
top of group F.
Even though the Atalanta fans were
standing less than ten yards away,
Ronaldo was not distracted one bit. He
held his head up high and smiled
throughout the interview.
Then, after the interview, he turned
to the hecklers and started blowing
kisses before disappearing down
the tunnel, grinning as he
went.
It was classic Ronaldo.
Few things give him
more pleasure than
hushing his critics. That
was the case on Satur-
day, when the 37-year-
old scored a hat-trick to
sink Tottenham Hotspur
and he will be looking to
prove the naysayers wrong
again this evening when United
host Atletico Madrid in the second leg
of their Champions League round-of-
16 tie.
It was interesting to hear Ralf
Rangnick, United’s interim manager,
suggest that the critics of Ronaldo had
riled the Portugal forward in the build-
up to the 3-2 victory over Spurs.
“There was a lot of discussion before
that game [about Ronaldo],” Rangnick
said when asked why Ronaldo had
performed so well.
“I think he just showed what kind of
a professional he is, what kind of level
he can still play at.”
With the tie delicately poised at 1-1,
what United need tonight is to see the
Ronaldo who scores goals, scraps for
the ball and dominates the penalty
area. This version of Ronaldo has
scored six of United’s 12 Champions
League goals this season, including late
winners against Atalanta and Villar-
real, and the stoppage-time equaliser in
Bergamo.
They do not want the version of
Ronaldo that they have seen for the rest
of 2022, the one that does not press, is
often offside and spends an unhelpful
amount of time complaining.
“When he is on fire it’s amazing,”
Alex Telles, the United left back, said.
“It’s important he plays at his top level.”
Atletico knew better than to poke the
bear yesterday. “With players like
Ronaldo, you always need to
be on your guard,” Marcos
Llorente, the versatile
Atletico player said.
Llorente will have
watched clips of Ron-
aldo’s performance on
Saturday and may well
have read the headlines
in Marca hailing the strik-
er’s performance as “sobre-
humano” (superhuman).
Diego Simeone, the Atletico
head coach, will remember that Ron-
aldo, who has 25 goals in 36 matches
against Atletico, scored a stunning hat-
trick three years ago this week to elimi-
nate his team at the round-of-16 stage.
After Ronaldo’s Juventus team had
lost the first leg 2-0 that year, the for-
ward walked through the media inter-
view area holding a finger up for every
Champions League medal he had in his
collection. “Cinco champions,” he said.
The problem for Ronaldo is that for
each of those Champions LeagueRonaldo needs
to be ‘on fire’
against old foe
Paul Hirst
Man Utd (1)
v A Madrid (1)
Champions League
round of 16, second leg
Kick-off: 8pm
TV: BT Sport 2
Radio: BBC 5 LiveHow fitting that after an extraordinary
week, the Players Championship
should go to a man who had an extraor-
dinary round to win the £2.8 million
first prize. Even at the Stadium course
at the Tournament Players Club, which
has witnessed some exciting golf down
the years, the manner in which Camer-
on Smith, 28, triumphed takes some
believing.
The bald statistic that the Australian
went round in 66, a stout effort for a
closing round and his lowest score of
the week by three strokes, conceals the
fact that this score was made up of ten
birdies, 13 one-putt greens, four pars
and four bogeys to finish 13 under par.
Nick Faldo’s 18 pars to win the 1987
Cool Smith conjures up storming finish for landmark win
Open at Muirfield it was not. Smith, 28,
who has a Tommy Fleetwood-like head
of hair, is perhaps the quietest-spoken
champion for year. Modest too. You
would not think he had risen to
sixth in the world ranking. “I
never expect too much of my-
self,” he said. “My expectation
each day is to get up, go to the
gym and then practise and
then chill. That’s all.”
Paul Casey clung to
Smith’s coattails as best
he could. Over his last
ten holes as the pres-
sure was ratcheted up
he had one birdie and
nine pars to maintain
his challenge. But he
also had a bit of bad
luck on the 16th, thelast real birdie opportunity on the
course. After a fine drive, his ball rolled
into a ball mark and from that
indentation Casey could not go
for the green of the par five in
two strokes. Casey’s rounds
of 70, 69, 69 and 69 were,
though, a model of consistency
This Players has already
become one of the most
unusual of the 40 that
have been staged here. I
have been coming to this
event when it has been held in
both March and May for nigh on
40 years and I haven’t seen anything
like the one that ended in Smith’s
victory last night.Forget the absence of the injured
Bryson DeChambeau and Tiger
Woods, Phil Mickelson who is in self-
determined purdah after his recent
indiscretions, and Rickie Fowler, the
2015 champion who had not qualified.
Consider instead that Collin Morikawa,
Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka, who
have victories in nine majors between
them, all missed the cut. Also consider
that the number of weather interrup-
tions meant that Seamus Power took
nearly 70 hours to play 36 holes.
The delays meant players spent a lot
more time than usual with their fami-
lies. Rory McIlroy read Peppa Pig to
Poppy, his daughter. For some of the
week the temperature resembled a
volatile day on the stock market. It was
over 26C on Wednesday and just above
minus 1C on Sunday.It was reassuring to see how Shane
Lowry and his burly frame battled the el-
ements. There were times when the ele-
ments lost, too, as they had when he won
the 2019 Open in foul weather at Royal
Portrush. Few players look as calm and
comfortable in bad weather as the Irish-
man. His excited celebration in the third
round when he had a hole in one the
17th, only the tenth at that hole, was
memorable. Six under par after 54 holes,
he remained on that figure after 72.
Tyrell Hatton fell foul of the last two
holes, often considered two of the most
difficult on the PGA Tour. Hatton was
nine under par on the 17th tee only to
double-bogey that hole and drop
another on the 18th. “I thought we’d
never get to the end of the event” Hat-
ton said. “My finish was disappointing
but I did my best. On to the next one.”Golf
John Hopkins Ponte Vedra Beach
Smith acknowledges the crowd
after his birdie at the 13th holeUnited rebuild
faces hurdle of
temporary base
Barcelona’s financial
troubles rule out Haaland
Barcelona’s hopes of making major
new signings, such as Borussia
Dortmund’s Erling Haaland, have
been shattered after being told their
present squad spending is
€144 million (about £121 million) over
the permitted limit. The Catalan club
will be able to buy players only if they
generate four times as much via sales
and savings.
That money could be generated by
turning the loans of players such as
Antoine Griezmann, who is at
Atletico Madrid, or Philippe
Coutinho, who is playing in the
Premier League with Aston Villa, into
permanent transfers.
Barcelona are the only club in the
first or second division of Spanish
football with a negative spending
limit. Real Madrid are at the top
of the positive spending list with a
cap of €739 million.hindered plans for building work in the
past, although new technology now
makes such work more cost effective.
A second option is believed to be a
complete upgrade of all four stands in
the present ground, including the
lucrative hospitality suites, but with no
South Stand expansion. The third, and
most controversial option, would be the
effective demolition of Old Trafford
and the building of a new state-of-the-
art stadium on the site, which will
expand its 74,000 capacity considera-
bly.
The large amount of land around Old
Trafford owned by the club would also
enable United to build a “reserve” sta-
dium next to the main one, which could
stage women’s and age-group games —
the same model adopted at City’s im-
pressive complex across Manchester.
But the big problem with such a
rebuild centres on where United, who
bring in well over £4 million in revenue
at every home game, would play their
fixtures during such a project.
United shared City’s Maine Road
ground from 1941 to 1948, after Old
Trafford had been bombed in the
Second World War, but there is no
suitable alternative open to them today.
United said last night that meetings
were being held to “hear a variety of
ideas” prior to appointing a “master
planner”. It is believed that refers to
tenders that have gone out to firms who
have been asked to pitch for each of
these schemes.continued from back