Cristiano Ronaldo the inevitable headline star of a cinematic thriller | Barney Ronay

Manchester United’s win over Atalanta was made up of magnificent moments but this was a gruelling watch for home fans

With nine minutes to play on a thrilling, increasingly wild night at Old Trafford Cristiano Ronaldo made one of those half-runs, the run that isn’t quite the run, then stretched his stride as he picked up the flight of the ball from Luke Shaw’s boot on the left flank.

This is one of the things Ronaldo does so well, the algebra of flight, speed, timing, gravity, contact, the millions of equations and muscle‑mnemonics that go into making these moments work.