PARIS — Cristiano Ronaldo scored on his first Manchester United appearance since his refusal to come on as a substitute last week in a 3-0 win over Sheriff Tiraspol in the UEFA Europa League.
The victory, with goals from Diogo Dalot and Marcus Rashford adding to Ronaldo’s strike, guaranteed the Red Devils a place in the next round, where they will join Barcelona who was knocked out of the Champions League at the group stage 24 hours earlier.
United manager Erik ten Hag left the Portugal forward out of the United squad for Saturday’s draw at Chelsea and he was only allowed to return to first team training this week.
Ronaldo started up front with 18-year-old Argentinian winger Alejandro Garnacho, who was making his maiden senior start.
Right-back Dalot opened the scoring just before the break before Rashford doubled the lead with 25 minutes to play.
Ronaldo claimed his 701st club career goal and made sure of the three points with nine minutes left.
Arsenal, who has already reached the last 16, lost for the first time in the group stage as they went down to a 2-0 defeat at PSV Eindhoven.
Gunners coach Mikel Arteta said afterwards that defender Pablo Mari, on loan at Italian club Monza, was having medical treatment after being stabbed in a Milan shopping centre in an attack which killed one person and injured three others.
“I just found out,” Arteta said according to AFP.
“He is in hospital. He seems to be OK. I will get a briefing now about what happened.”
Surprise early season Bundesliga leaders Union Berlin kept alive their hopes of a place in the knockout round of the second-tier European competition thanks to a 1-0 win over Braga.
PSV Eindhoven became the first team to hold Arsenal scoreless this season, beating the Gunners 2-0 to keep alive the fight for first place in Group A.
Joey Veerman and substitute Luuk de Jong scored in the second half for PSV to hand Premier League leader Arsenal only its second loss of the season in all competitions and first in the Europa League.
De Jong set up Veerman to shoot past Aaron Ramsdale from inside the area in the 56th minute before heading in the second seven minutes later.
PSV forwards Cody Gakpo and Xavi Simons had a goal each disallowed due to offside in the first half.
Arsenal still leads Group A with 12 points, with Eindhoven second on 10 with one round remaining. Both teams have qualified for the next stage, but the group winners advance directly to the last 16, while teams qualifying second go through an extra playoff round.
Those in third place drop into the third-tier Europa Conference League.
Germany’s Freiburg topped Group G despite being held 1-1 at home by Olympiakos, while Ferencváros drew with Monaco 1-1 to clinch first place in Group H.
Real Betis secured first place in Group C after a 1-0 victory at Ludogorets, with Nabil Fekir scoring the winner. The Spanish club has 13 points while Ludogorets is six points behind, tied with Roma.
Mohamed Camara scored the winning goal to reignite Roma’s Europa League campaign as José Mourinho´s team earned a 2-1 victory over HJK Helsinki in Finland.
Tammy Abraham scored his first goal in Europe this season to put Roma 1-0 ahead before Perparim Hetemaj equalized for HJK.
Fenerbahçe staged a late come back to salvage a 3-3 home draw against Rennes with both sides already qualified from Group B.
Amine Gouiri netted twice and Martin Terrier added one in the opening 30 minutes to put the visitors on course to win the group.
The Turkish side replied with a goal from Enner Valencia still in the first half before substitutes Miha Zajc and Emre Mor scored in the 82nd and 88th, respectively. Both teams are on 11 points ahead of the final round of games.
Teddy Teuma and Lazare Amani scored in the first half to lead Belgian club Union SG to the round of 16 from Group D after a 2-0 victory at Malmö.
Union SG tops the group with 13 points with Bundesliga leader Union Berlin moving to second with nine points after a 1-0 home win over Braga, which is third on six.
Lazio came from a goal down to beat Midtjylland 2-1 to be tied for a a three-point lead in the tightly contested Group F.
Sergej Milinkovi’c-Savi´c and Pedro Rodriguez replied after an opening goal by Gustav Isaksen for the Danish side. All four teams in the group were on five points before the fifth round of matches. Sturm beat Feyenoord 1-0 in the group´s other game.
PSV was punished earlier Thursday for fan disorder inside Arsenal´s stadium in their previous meeting, which Arsenal won 1-0.
UEFA banned PSV from selling tickets to its fans for the team´s game in Norway next week against Bodø/Glimt.
The Dutch club must also pay a fine of 40,000 euros ($40,000) and compensate Arsenal for damage to seats in the stadium last week.
Manuel Lanzini converted from the penalty spot in the first half for West Ham to defeat Silkeborg 1-0. West Ham made it five wins from five to qualify directly for the last 16 as Group B winner.
Sweden´s Djurgården clinched the top spot in Group F with a 3-2 away win at Norway´s Molde.
Fiorentina came from a goal down to beat Istanbul Basaksehir 2-1 and draw level with their Turkish opponent atop Group A with 10 points. Both teams mede it to the next round.
Villarreal’s perfect record came to an end after it was held 2-2 at home by Hapoel Beer-Sheva. But the Spanish club was already assured of qualifying in first place from Group C and avoiding the extra playoff round.
AZ Alkmaar had a five-point lead atop Group E after a 2-0 away win at Vaduz.
In the Conference League, West Ham maintained their 100 per cent record by beating Silkeborg 1-0 and Fiorentina clinched their spot in the last 16 with a 2-1 win over Istanbul Basaksehir.
In their first match since coach Unai Emery announced he was leaving to manage Premier League club Aston Villa, Villarreal dropped points for the first time in Europe this season.
Despite having already qualified for the last 16 as group winners but were held 2-2 by Hapoel Beer-Sheva as Sagiv Jehezkel equalised in the 79th minute.
