On This Day 12 Years Ago Cristiano Ronaldo Scored A Brilliant Free Kick Vs Arsenal

On this day 12 years ago, Cristiano Ronaldo's incredible long range free kick against Arsenal booked Manchester United's place in the Champions League final.

Ronaldo has many Champions League goals to pick from when it comes to choosing his best, he is the competition's all time top scorer with 134 goals, 14 ahead of second place Lionel Messi.

Even when it comes to free kick goals for Manchester United in the Champions League, the Juventus forward has two brilliant strikes to choose from, which is quite something.

His brilliant goal against his former side Sporting is pretty memorable but the one against Arsenal in the 2009 semi final second leg was something special.

In a sensational opening 11 minutes, Ronaldo's 40 yard free kick gave United a 2-0 lead on the night against their big rivals.

United, who were attempting to become the first team in Champions League history to win back-to-back titles, won the first leg at Old Trafford 1-0, thanks to John O'Shea's first half goal.

The Gunners had home advantage in the second leg but it quickly became United's advantage as they scored an away goal after just eight minutes.

Park Ji-Sung got onto the end of Kieran Gibb's slip in the box and slipped the ball past Manuel Almunia, meaning Arsenal would need at least three goals to make their second Champions League final.

Ronaldo celebrates sending his side through to the final. Image: PA Images

Ronaldo's brilliant free kick just three minutes later all but ended the tie, but some might even say it wasn't the best goal of the game.

On the hour mark Nemanja Vidic headed clear an Arsenal corner and found Ronaldo outside the box. The winger back heeled the ball to Park and continued on his run.

The South Korean found Rooney wide on the left and the forward played a perfect pass into the box where his Portuguese teammate met it on his run and slotted past Almunia once more.

Robin van Persie scored a consolation from the spot after Darren Fletcher was wrongly sent off, in a world before VAR.

The Scotsman's red card was a blow to United's chances in the final and Pep Guardiola's side beat Sir Alex Ferguson's team in the final in Rome.

Topics: Football, Manchester United, Premier League, Arsenal, Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

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