Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was thrilled with the overall impact of match winner Cristiano Ronaldo as Manchester United roared to beat Atalanta on a night when poor defense threatened to cost them dearly.

The Old Trafford giants have come under scrutiny in preparation for Wednesday’s Champions League group game after Leicester beat them 4-2 all too easily on Saturday.

United faced a fifth loss in eight games when Mario Pasalic and Merih Demiral took advantage of a lax defense to give Atalanta a two-goal lead, leading some Old Trafford fans to scoff at half-time .

But Solskjaer’s side have shown their ability to fight time and time again, with Marcus Rashford and Harry Maguire scoring before Ronaldo returned home to make it 3-2 on death.

“This is football,” Solskjaer said when asked for costly mistakes in the first half followed by a comeback.

“In the first half I thought we played good things. Our finish was not good enough.

“They had two chances and in those two moments, yes, we took a break and conceded two easy goals. Then in the second half, David (De Gea) made two fantastic saves.

“The difference in performance isn’t that big and that’s what decides the outcome – it’s the quality and quality of the finishes we got.

“The second half was much better than the first because we also created a lot of chances in the first half.

“But I can understand why people who don’t really watch every game see the inconsistency and in this game of course with a 2-0 loss it looks really bad. But the performance was not 2-0 and that was the message at halftime.

“Keep it up, just add more quality to your finish, get an extra assist and of course make sure you don’t concede a goal.”

United’s defensive drama is nothing new – it was the 19th time in 20 games that they failed to keep a clean sheet – and Ronaldo wasn’t the hero either.

The Portuguese’s role has come under intense scrutiny lately, but Solskjaer was delighted with his former teammate’s performance.

“I was really, really happy with the way he led the line,” said the United boss.

“As a center forward, we asked him to lead the channels, to pass, to push more because we’re at home, of course. We want to get the crowd behind us.

“Even though he was inside his own six-yard box towards the end on defense, you could see him sprinting. He did everything a center forward should do, lead the line and defend. And of course, the goal is exactly what it does better than most. “

United are now preparing for Sunday’s tantalizing Premier League encounter with rivals Liverpool – a game Rashford must assess before being given a dead leg.

“I don’t know,” Solskjaer said of his availability for the weekend. “I hope so and I think so. It’s a dead leg and sometimes it can take longer than you want, but if we treat it right it should be OK. ”

Atalanta head coach Gian Piero Gasperini was understandably frustrated at leaving Old Trafford after taking control at the break.

“Against this team, a moment is enough to make a difference,” he said. “I think if we had scored a third – and we got closer – we could have won.

“We were missing a few players, but those who played well played well. We knew United were strong. We learn from these matches, but at some point we want to stop learning and do more. “