Wayne Lumbasi
Manchester United eased past Brentford with a comfortable 3-0 victory in their final Premier League home game of the season.
United gave their long-suffering supporters something to cheer about and also strengthened their chances of securing a top-six finish, moving six points clear of West Ham in seventh.
Bruno Fernandes, Cristiano Ronaldo and Raphael Varane scored the goals for Manchester united sparking one last round of protests at Old Trafford, with fans unhappy at the Glazer family’s running, and continued ownership, of the club.
Fernandes fired in an early opener before a narrow offside decision denied Ronaldo before half-time. A Ronaldo penalty after 61 minutes, to make it 2-0, capped an entertaining performance from the no.7 that had set the tone for the Bank Holiday finale at home.
Varane hooked home a deflected third before fans gave standing ovations to departing players Nemanja Matic and Juan Mata. Mata, who is likely playing his final game at Old Trafford, made sure he left supporters with a game to remember as he kept cropping up in dangerous areas. He nearly doubled the hosts’ lead after Fernandes’ opener in what was a brilliant exchange with Ronaldo.
It was certainly one of the best performances from the squad under Ralf Rangnick. Who knows what next season will bring in England and Europe if they can repeat the same kind of performance?
Brentford currently sit 14th, eight points above relegation-sitting Everton who have two games in hand. So they will need to get over this bump in the road quickly to calm some nerves and hopefully avoid the drop.
