One was rugby-tackled to the ground by security staff; the other was forcibly held back. But the five-time world player of the year hung around and, with a broad smile, eventually gave them the selfie they craved.

Ronaldo certainly enjoyed his return to former club Manchester United on Tuesday.

Juventus, Ronaldo’s new team, beat United 1-0 for a third straight win in the Champions League, moving the Italian club to the brink of qualification just halfway through the group phase.

Unlike the last time he was at the stadium — for Real Madrid in 2013 — Ronaldo didn’t score but he was involved in the only goal, sending in a cross from the right wing that was eventually swept home by Paulo Dybala in the 17th minute.

Dangerous going forward and typically obdurate at the back, Juventus delivered a powerful performance that extended its unbeaten start to the season to 11 games and strengthened its status as one of the serious contenders for the Champions League — a competition it hasn’t won since 1996.

With Ronaldo leading the attack, this might be its best chance in years to end the drought.

“We played against one of the biggest — really biggest — candidates to win the Champions League,” said United manager Jose Mourinho, who was effusive in his praise for the Italian side.

Not just of Ronaldo, but especially of Juventus’ two dominant center backs.

“Mr. Bonucci and Mr. Chiellini could teach classes in Harvard on how to be a central defender,” Mourinho said.

This was another chastening loss — a fourth of the season — for United, highlighting the gulf between the heavyweights of the continent and what was once England’s top team. Juventus toyed with United at times, especially in the first half.

He was always going to be the focal point of this game anyway but attention grew even more in the wake of an allegation of rape against him in the United States. Kathryn Mayorga filed a civil lawsuit last month in Nevada claiming the Portuguese star raped her in his Las Vegas hotel room in 2009. Police also reopened an investigation into the allegation at her request. Ronaldo’s attorney, Peter S. Christiansen, issued a statement on Oct. 10 denying wrongdoing by his client.

Five years ago, Ronaldo was introduced as the “magnificent seven” when he came to Old Trafford — where he played for United from 2003-09 — with Madrid for a last-16 match in 2013. He was given a standing ovation by United fans that night and ended up scoring the winning goal to eliminate his former club from the Champions League.

On Tuesday, Ronaldo wasn’t given the big build-up by the stadium announcer as the team lineup was read out but his name was cheered loudly by home supporters. And a few minutes into the game, a fan came onto the playing surface from the Stretford End stand and got to within a few meters of Ronaldo at the other end of the field before being stopped by slow-reacting security.

As he lay on the ground, the fan stretched his arms toward Ronaldo, almost pleadingly.

Then came the incident involving the pitch invaders at the end of the match. Ronaldo was applauded by fans for giving them their selfie.

During the match, Ronaldo’s flicks, tricks and power were all on display as he switched from the left flank to a central position. However, Dybala was arguably the most impressive of Juventus’ attackers and the Argentina international grabbed the winner.

Ronaldo delivered a cross from the right wing, United defender Chris Smalling got in front of Juan Cuadrado at the near post to block the ball but it fell to Dybala, who converted from the edge of six-yard box.

United took a while to get going, having already arrived at the stadium later than planned because the team bus carrying the players got stuck in traffic around Old Trafford. The same thing happened before United’s last home group game, against Valencia, but this time kickoff didn’t need to be delayed.

Ronaldo had a free kick late in the first half batted away by United goalkeeper David De Gea, who then tipped over a fiercely struck shot from the Portugal forward soon after halftime.

United rallied in the final half hour, and Paul Pogba saw a curling shot hit the post before bouncing off goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny to safety.

“What the players showed today,” said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri, “was when to slow the game down, when to speed the game up.”

Juventus has nine points, five more than second-place United.

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After Wright-Phillips’ effort bounced off the post to leave Juventus up 4-3 — Mattia De Sciglio fired into the upper left corner past Columbus goalkeeper Zack Steffen to settle it.

Andrea Favilli had put Juventus ahead in the 21st minute, heading in a curling cross by Matheus Pereira.

The MLS All-Stars, selected from around the league through fan voting, pulled level in the 26th minute through Atlanta United’s Josef Martinez — the Venezuela star and former Torino forward who leads MLS with 24 goals in 23 matches.

Juventus keeper Wojciech Szczesny saved an initial effort, but after a scramble in the area, Martinez bundled the ball in to score in front of his home crowd.

“Beyond the fact that we had a very good opponent, it was an important game, especially a team of this caliber. We had never played together before. We only had three days to meet, but I think we looked good despite that.”

It marked the second straight year that the All-Star Game ended in a 1-1 draw to go to a shoot-out. Last year, Real Madrid beat the All-Stars 4-2 on penalties at Soldier Field in Chicago.

The crowd was the largest ever for the MLS All-Star game, surpassing the 70,728 for the 2010 edition in Houston.

The game was one of four matches for Juventus on their North American tour, but they haven’t brought off-season acquisition Cristiano Ronaldo, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner whose 100 million-euro ($117 million) move from European champions Real Madrid was announced in July.

With three wins from three matches, Juventus will look to make it a clean sweep of the tour on Saturday night against Real Madrid at FedEx Field in Washington, DC.

“It was really a wonderful game, and it was a good preparation for us,” said Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri, who said he was “very pleasantly surprised” by the atmosphere in Atlanta.

“You know it’s not easy to put 70,000 people in a stadium like today,” he said.

The All-Stars were without Los Angeles Galaxy forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was voted into the contest against his former club by fans but would have been playing in his third game in seven days.

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Federico Bernardeschi and Gonzalo Higuain scored as Juventus went top of Serie A on Friday in a 2-0 win at Fiorentina overshadowed by a video assistant referee (VAR) fiasco.

A decision to award a penalty to Fiorentina after 21 minutes when Juventus’s Giorgio Chiellini’s arm blocked a Marco Benassi cross was subsequently overturned after consultation with VAR.

Jordan Veretout went up to take the spot-kick but after a three-minute viewing referee Marco Guida instead decided to award the visitors a free-kick for a supposed Benassi offside in the run-up.

Emotions were already running high after the break when Italian midfielder Bernardeschi, who left the Tuscany side for Turin last summer, scored on his return to the Artemio Franchi Stadium for the first time as a Juventus player.

The 23-year-old curled in a free-kick after 56 minutes for his fourth goal in six Serie A games started for Juventus to break the deadlock. Bernardeschi was later substituted off to the whistles of the crowd.

Higuain — the scorer of a hat-trick last weekend — sealed the win four minutes from time with his 14th Serie A goal this season and 50th for Juventus.

It was an important win for champions Juventus who now have 62 points from 24 games — two points ahead of Napoli — who can reclaim top spot when they host Lazio on Saturday.

“It’s never easy to win here, we didn’t have an amazing game, but these matches are like that, it’s a big step towards the Scudetto, I’m very happy for Bernardeschi,” said Argentine Higuain.

The first half had delivered little in the way of action as Stefano Pioli’s team made life difficult for the visitors.

Gil Dias broke clear down the right and hit the post as he tried to beat Gianluigi Buffon who was making his 500th Serie A appearance in goal.

Despite going a goal down, Fiorentina did not give up with the evergreen Buffon, 40, denying Cyril Thereau from close range before Higuain closed down the match after 86 minutes for an 11th straight win in all competitions for his side.

“I want to congratulate the lads because we are doing some positive numbers: 62 points and a goal (conceded) in the last 16 games,” said coach Massimiliano Allegri who was also lining out in his 200th game for Juventus.

“I was waiting for the referee’s decision … The wait was long and luckily the penalty was taken away, I thought there was a foul on the action before but then many other things are seen on TV,” continued Allegri.

“Now we must regroup for the Champions League. It would be nice to close down the Tottenham game in Turin but it will be very difficult, we’ll have to play a careful game, they are a very physical and technical team and we’ll have to do well,” he added, looking ahead to next Tuesday’s last-16 European clash.

Fiorentina remain in 11th position on 31 points after their third loss in four games.

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