—- Late goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho were enough to earn an underwhelming Manchester United a 2-0 victory at Villarreal which guarantees them a spot in the Champions League knockout stages.

United came into the contest knowing victory would see them through to the last 16 with one group match left to play, but in Michael Carrick’s first game as interim manager, United looked shorn of ideas in attack in the Estadio de la Ceramica.

The home side had much the better chances, with United goalkeeper David de Gea bailing his side out with several fines saves, the best of which denied Manu Trigueros a goal.

Out of nowhere, however, a poor pass from Villarreal keeper Geronimo Rulli that was miscontrolled by Etienne Capoue was then seized upon by Ronaldo, who lofted the ball over the stranded Rulli to give United the lead in the 78th minute.

As the home side pressed for an equaliser, the visitors countered in the 90th minute with Sancho hammering home to put the game to bed and send United top of Group F with 10 points, three ahead of Villarreal, who can no longer catch Carrick’s side due to their inferior head-to-head record. 

Chelsea, too

Chelsea are also through after defeating Juventus 4-0 on goals from home-grown trio Trevoh Chalobah, Reece James and Callum Hudson-Odoi and a fourth by Timo Werner in Group H.

The European champions took control from the outset and never relaxed as they booked their place in the last 16.

Defender Chalobah, 22, smacked the ball into the net past the flailing arms of Wojciech Szczesny in the 25th minute after centre back Toni Rudiger set him up from a Hakim Ziyech corner.

A VAR check dismissed calls for handball against Rudiger when replays showed the ball hit his hand in front of his chest.

James, 21, showed superb technique to angle a shot into the left hand corner of the goal in the 55th and barely three minutes later 21-year-old Hudson-Odoi scored from a layoff by another Academy graduate Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Juventus had already qualified for the knockout stage but the result dropped them to second place in the group, level with Chelsea on 12 points, with one round of fixtures to play.

Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel was full of praise for his young scorers.

“It’s their biggest dream to perform at Stamford Bridge, to perform in blue, to be part of a strong Chelsea team,” the German said. “I strongly believe this is a huge part of the success that we have this mix.”

Werner put the icing on the cake before the final whistle by sending the ball home from a Ziyech cross.

Chelsea, beaten 1-0 in Turin in September, made the Italians look ordinary, running them ragged with intricate passing movements and producing 20 shots on goal to Juve’s eight.

Former Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata had the visitors’ best chance when he chipped the ball over advancing Chelsea keeper Edouard Mendy in the 28th minute, but 37-year-old defender Thiago Silva raced back to superbly hook the ball off the line.

The one downside for the hosts was an injury to wing-back Chilwell, who appeared to twist his knee and was helped off the pitch.

#########