An evening of football unlikely to feature in the Ronaldo Museum
Before Saturday night, I had only ever seen a chocolate Cristiano Ronaldo before. That was on holiday to his home island of Madeira, in the amazing Ronaldo museum.
Spread over two floors, it contains glass cabinets full of all the trophies he has won in his along with all his memorabilia. My God, he has won some medals.
It seems unlikely that what we saw at the Amex when Ronaldo and Manchester United paid a visit will ever feature in the museum. One of the world’s great ever footballers was part of a team beaten 4-0 as Brighton put in another wonderful performance.
I had spent the week on holiday in Cornwall. I was desperate to come back and watch the match, not only to see Ronaldo in the flesh (rather than chocolate) but because I had a feeling that the day might go well for the Albion.
My dear wife said that we could head home early on Friday evening to ensure we did not miss the game. I was so grateful to her and cutting the holiday short by a day obviously paid off by Saturday night when Brighton had an historic 4-0 win against United in the bag.
We left Cornwall at 3pm and were back in Sussex by 7:45pm. The washing went straight into the machine and the suitcases were put away in the loft.
The poor dog did not know what was going on. No sooner had we collected him than he was off again to spend the day with a relative whilst we headed down to the Amex.
Speaking of relatives, I had a message from just after the final whistle. He is a Manchester United supporter and was watching the game on catch up.
He said, and I quote: “I am half an hour behind. Game is so boring, poor quality from both sides.” What on earth was he watching? It cannot have been the same game as us.
The football played by Brighton was brilliant. They ran rings around United, controlled the entire game and worked hard for each other. He must have been suffering from a case of sour grapes.
There was a brief shower when we arrived at the Amex and that made the pitch slicker. The surface looked immaculate and the ground staff must be congratulated on the job they have done this season.
It was not until I did the Amex Stadium Tour in October that I learned the pitch is not flat for a reason; clever stuff really and something you cannot tell until you are level with the grass.
Ronaldo was the centre of attention during the warm ups. He practiced a free kick against David De Gea, slowly taking his paces back and then one to the side.
He stepped up and… the ball went miles over the bar. That gave me more confidence that the Albion could get a result, and of course the exact same thing happened when Ronaldo took a free kick in the first half.
Brighton did so well to ensure that was the only chance he had in the entire game. Maybe chocolate Ronaldo would have been more threatening?!
United were in good form coming into the game having beaten Brentford 3-0 on Monday night. Brighton have been playing well too, and we have surpassed our highest ever Premier League points tally with lots of wins and goals coming away from home in recent weeks.
What has been missing is a home performance. Well, we certainly got one on this occasion. From no Amex wins since Boxing Day, only three all season in total and scoring just 12 goals to beating Manchester United 4-0. Talk about a stylish way to break the run!
It took barely 15 minutes for us all to witness the skill and courage of Moises Caicedo. A rebound fell to the feet of Caicedo and he expertly placed a low shot along he ground and into the corner of De Gea’s goal.
The Amex erupted and Caicedo ran over the celebrate in front of the East Stand. He was embraced by Yves Bissouma which was great to see and clearly all Caicedo’s Albion teammates were so happy for him in scoring his first Premier League goal.
Pascal Gross floated a free kick to Danny Welbeck but his shot went over the crossbar. A 1-0 lead did not feel safe to me as we all know what United are capable of – they can even find a way to score a penalty after the final whistle.
Leandro Trossard had a shot which flew just past De Gea’s left post. One of Robert Sanchez’s pinpoint long kicks then released Welbeck but his lob was over the bar as chances for the Albion came thick and fast.
Everything was looking good when we went into half time, but again I had to remind myself that this was Manchester United we were playing. “Come on Tony, you know what they always do in the last minute, do not get too excited yet.”
There would be no need to worry as Brighton of course were out of sight by the last minute. They were out of sight by the hour mark actually after one of the best 15 minutes of football ever.
Marc Cucurella scoring the second four minutes into the second half was the greatest moment of the season for me. He has played his socks off and thoroughly deserved to get his first Premier League goal.
Cucurella was emotional and so was I, actually. It is amazing to see a young man from Spain enjoying himself so much in Brighton. I hope he and his family love living in the area as boy, do we need him to stay!
Obviously the team talk from Ralf Rangnick had no impact. Bruno Fernandes said afterwards “Brighton had more determination than us” and he was spot on.
All United could do in response to the Albion going two ahead was offer Sanchez catching practice. There was nothing he could not handle on this occasion and he even played a big part in the third Brighton goal.
Another of those kicks more deadly than a sniper shot sent Cucurella away down the left. He found Trossard who dinked to Gross and the German weaved his way through the United defence to slot past De Gea.
The stadium was electric. A fantastic goal starting with Sanchez and ending with Gross. United were being carved apart and it showed on the faces and body language of the visitors.
Less than two minutes later and Brighton were at it again. Gross went aerial to find Welbeck. He popped the ball over De Gea and although Diogo Dalot was covering, Trossard was on hand to help it over the line.
There was a VAR check for handball but Trossard looked seriously confident that the goal would stand. And it did. Brighton 4-0 Manchester United. Oh my.
United came to life a bit after that, as if they felt “Maybe we should try and get a goal?!” Ronaldo crossed for Edinson Cavani to head, only for Sanchez to pull off what has to be described as a cat-like save.
Alexis Mac Allister charged up the other end and nearly added an unthinkable fifth for Brighton, hitting the post. It was a much more open game now and Sanchez made a world class stop to keep out a Fernandes screamer.
Welbeck then curled one just wide. It was so close that we in the East Stand were convinced it was in, which would have been the cherry on the cake.
The atmosphere throughout the game and at full time was unlike anything I have seen this season. That has to give the squad a boost for the final two games, away at Leeds next Sunday and home to West Ham at the Amex on Sunday 22nd May.
One last thing, if you have not voted in the Fan Advisory Board elections yet then please consider giving me your vote. I am listed as Anthony Noble.
The poll closes on Friday 13th May and if elected, I will be happy to put forward all your ideas and suggestions to the club next season. A chocolate statue of Cucurella, anyone?
Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony
