Cristiano Ronaldo put an end to speculation of a rift surrounding him and Manchester United management with a fantastic hat-trick that secured a decisive win against Tottenham Hotspur.
The headlines by the end of the Premier League matchday focused on one man and one man only: Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese stalwart scored a wonderful hat-trick in front of the Old Trafford faithful to secure a much-needed 3-2 win against Tottenham.
Ronaldo had missed United’s trip to the Etihad Stadium that ended in a horrific 4-1 defeat in the Manchester derby. While the official reason was said to be a hip flexor injury, the mysterious nature of the rapid development as well as suggestions by some pundits in the aftermath revealed that there might be more than meet the eye.
The 37-year-old’s sudden departure to Portugal instead of travelling with the team to boost morale made things even worse and interim manager Ralf Rangnick was asked whether Ronaldo was happy at Manchester United. ‘I don’t know,’ he had replied.
By the end of the night, however, all such speculation and rumours were put to dust in the wake of a trailblazing display by the five-time Ballon d’Or winner. Ronaldo opened the scoring for the hosts in the 12th minute of the match with a curling strike from well outside the penalty box that took Hugo Lloris by surprise.
Tottenham grew into the game following Ronaldo’s strike and had a few chances here and there. Ben Davies’ strike got disallowed for offside while Diogo Dalot had to make a goal-line clearance. The visitors would be rewarded for their efforts soon, though.
Alex Telles was adjudged to have handled the ball in his own box at the half-hour mark. Harry Kane stepped up and calmly slotted the ball past David De Gea from 12 yards to make it 1-1.
The Red Devils bounced back soon, however, to retake their lead before the half-time break. A wonderful pass from Nemanja Matic caught a poorly attempted offside line by Tottenham defence unawares and Jadon Sancho was off on the left wing. He calmly squared the ball to Ronaldo, who tapped it home from close range to become the greatest goal-scorer in the history of football since record-keeping began.
A Harry Maguire own goal in the second half threatened to complicate matters for United, but Ronaldo extended his lead at the top of the scoring charts over Josef Bican in typical fashion. He showed plenty of hunger and desire to outjump the Tottenham defenders to meet a wonderful corner kick and powered it into the back of the net to make it his first hattrick for Manchester United in 14 years.
“Today it was his best performance, at least since I arrived. He was good in training on Thursday and that is why I decided to start him.
said Rangnick after the game.
Elsewhere, Liverpool defeated Brighton 2-0 to close the gap to City to three points once again. Jurgen Klopp’s side took the lead when a brave header from Luis Diaz nestled into the back of the net.
The Brazilian was taken out by Robert Sanchez but thankfully, the forward suffered no serious injury, and even after a VAR review, Sanchez’s challenge wasn’t deemed worthy of a red card.
Mohamed Salah put matters to bed with a strike from the penalty spot in the 61st minute after Yves Bissouma was penalized for handball. Salah now has 20 Premier League goals this season – a figure he has hit in four of the last five seasons with the Reds.
