Cristiano Ronaldo scores on return, Man Utd stroll past Sheriff to advance to Europa League knockouts

Cristiano Ronaldo scored on his return to the Manchester United lineup to seal a 3-0 victory over Sheriff Tiraspol in the Europa League on Thursday that secured a spot in the knockout round.

Ronaldo was brought back into the fold by United manager Erik Ten Hag after he was left out of the squad against Chelsea in the Premier League for refusing to come on as a substitute in a 2-0 win over Tottenham last week. The Portugal star started against Sheriff and netted the last goal nine minutes from time on a rebound after Sheriff goalkeeper Maxym Koval saved his initial header.

Earlier, defender Diogo Dalot met a corner kick by Christian Eriksen to head in the opening goal a minute before halftime as United dominated possession.

Substitute forward Marcus Rashford headed home the second in the second half following a cross from another substitute, Luke Shaw.

The victory against the Moldovan club set up a Nov. 3 decider against Real Sociedad for first place in Group E.

Sociedad recorded its fifth straight victory in the competition, 2-0 at Omonoia, to stay three points ahead of United.

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.