Cristiano Ronaldo is likely to deliver up another big performance when Manchester United hosts Atletico Madrid in the second leg of the Champions League last 16 games on Tuesday night, according to Raphael Varane.<\/p>\n
United and the Spanish champions approach the critical second leg tied 1-1 on aggregate, with the tie equally poised as they vie for a place in the competition\u2019s last eight. Ronaldo has been United\u2019s most valuable player in Europe so far this season, netting six goals in six games, particularly late goals in both meetings against Atalanta and a 95th-minute winner in the 3-2 triumph over Villarreal. Anthony Elanga was the hero when United recovered from behind to earn a thrilling tie in the first game in Madrid, but Varane reckons Ronaldo will be the man to watch when the two teams encounter again at Old Trafford. Between 2014 and 2018, Varane and Ronaldo claimed four Champions League crowns with Real Madrid.<\/p>\n
Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in a 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, ranking him the leading scorer in men\u2019s professional football. It was his first treble for United in 14 years and the 59th of his career. Cristiano is also the all-time leading scorer in Champions League heritage, with 141 goals in 186 appearances \u2014 a total that has helped him win five crowns.<\/p>\n
Varane believes there is something in the competition and the attention it draws that drives his teammate, who\u2019s often stepped to the occasion in Europe\u2019s top-tier competition, including this season for United.<\/p>\n
The World Cup winner, addressed on the club\u2019s website, stated: \u201cI think he\u2019s a very great player and I think he feels different when the pressure is higher. When it\u2019s a big moment, he can feel \u2013 I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s more motivation or something different, but we know in special moments he\u2019s always ready. He will be very important for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Varane has a track record of European success, having helped Real Madrid achieve four titles in a decade at the Bernabeu, along with a rare \u2018threepeat\u2019 between 2016 and 2018. And he loves the competition\u2019s drama and magic, having watched it since he was a child.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cristiano Ronaldo possesses six goals in six Champions League outings this season. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":266,"featured_media":33863,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[410,322,321,249,377,266,48,1805],"class_list":["post-11393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-atletico-madrid","tag-cr7","tag-cristiano-ronaldo","tag-manchester-united","tag-raphael-varane","tag-real-madrid","tag-uefa-champions-league","tag-varane"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/266"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}