Twitter explodes as Cristiano Ronaldo captains Manchester United in damaging 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa

Twitter went into meltdown as Cristiano Ronaldo captained Manchester United in a shocking 3-1 loss against Aston Villa in their Premier League clash on Sunday, November 6.

The Villans immediately got on the front foot, with their home fans excited, and the Red Devils seemed totally unprepared for the onslaught. While United had some early possession of the ball, they had no answer to Villa's threat on the counter-attack, and it bit them hard with just seven minutes on the clock.

Leon Bailey opened the scoring for Aston Villa in the seventh minute as a stumbling Manchester United defense could only watch. Jacob Ramsey provided the assist for Bailey, who put his effort beyond David de Gea's foot and into the bottom corner at the far post.

The Red Devils tried to get back into the game, but they conceded again just four minutes later, and this time it was to a highly remarkable freekick from Lucas Digne. The Frenchman showcased a lesson on freekicks as he curled the ball from just outside the penalty box, over the wall, and into the corner at the near post. De Gea might have seen it coming, but the ball had so much pace that the Spanish keeper could not get his hands on it.

Cristiano Ronaldo had a key opportunity to reduce the deficit after a cross from Christian Eriksen found him at the far post just after half-an-hour. However, the Portuguese forward could only send his headed effort straight into the middle of the goal, where Emiliano Martinez was waiting to make the save.

On the stroke of half-time, however, the Red Devils scored the goal they had been waiting for, even though it came with a pure stroke of luck. After hounding at Villa's third for minutes on end, a 20-yard shot from Luke Shaw deflected off Ramsey and changed its trajectory suddenly. The goalkeeper could only stand still and watch as the ball, which had been coming towards him, drove towards the far post instead and entered the net.

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Cristiano Ronaldo could not help Manchester United get ahead of the Villans

Cristiano Ronaldo struggled to make his mark in yet another Premier League game for the Red Devils as they failed to score another goal in the second half. Instead, it was Aston Villa who provided the delightful fourth goal of the game with an impressive counter-attack that put the sword to Manchester United.

Four minutes after the restart, a brilliant finish from Ramsey was enough to stamp all three points in their favor. Both sides went at it for the rest of the half, but neither was able to change the scoreline. In the end, it was Ramsey's early second-half effort that proved to be the final winning goal, as Cristiano Ronaldo and the Red Devils slumped in attack.

Here is how Twitter reacted to Manchester United's loss at Villa Park:

Cristiano Ronaldo's difficult season continued as United remain fifth in the table with 23 points from 13 games. The legendary forward has scored three goals and provided two assists in 15 appearances across competitions this season.