Where would Manchester United be without Cristiano Ronaldo? That question has been posed almost since the day the 37-year-old scored twice on his second Premier League debut for the club during a 4-1 win against Newcastle at Old Trafford last September. This followed his transfer from Juventus, for an initial €15 million, which saw him return to United 12 years after leaving in a then-world-record £80 million transfer to Real Madrid.
As United prepare to pull down the curtain on their worst season in more than 30 years with a trip to Crystal Palace on Sunday -- a season that has seen one manager (Ole Gunnar Solskjaer) fired and interim boss Ralf Rangnick become statistically the club's worst manager since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 -- Ronaldo will end the campaign as the team's leading goal scorer and perhaps the only player who has produced memorable moments for the right reasons during 2021-22.