Desk Report
Publish: 17 Apr 2022, 11:38 am
Manchester United's Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo (C) celebrates with teammates after scoring his third goal during the English Premier League football match between Manchester United and Norwich City at Old Trafford in Manchester, north west England, on April 16, 2022 || Photo: AFP
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a
hat-trick as Manchester United claimed a 3-2 win over Norwich on Saturday to
take advantage of defeats for Arsenal and Tottenham in the race for a place in next
season's Champions League.
Spurs' winning run was brought to
an abrupt halt by a 1-0 home defeat by Brighton, while the Gunners were beaten
1-0 at Southampton to slump to a third consecutive loss.
Ronaldo's 50th club hat-trick
tempered a revolt among the fanbase at Old Trafford as United move above
Arsenal into fifth on goal difference, three points behind Tottenham.
There was unrest among the Man U
fans before the game even began as many did not come into the stadium until the
17th minute to protest against the 17 years of the Glazer family's ownership of
the club.
Those late to take their seats
missed Ronaldo's first goal of the afternoon as he swept home Anthony Elanga's
cross.
The 37-year-old then powered home
Alex Telles' corner for his 20th goal of the season despite United's struggles.
However, the Red Devils' defensive
problems were laid bare by the bottom-of-the-table Canaries who had scored just
20 goals in their previous 31 league games.
Kieran Dowell halved the arrears
in first-half stoppage time before Teemu Pukki levelled seven minutes into the
second half.
David de Gea then had to produce
a brilliant save to deny Pukki completing the comeback.
United players were then met with
chants of "you're not fit to wear the shirt", with Paul Pogba singled
out for abuse when he was substituted.
But Ronaldo had the final say
when his free-kick flew through the grasp of Tim Krul 14 minutes from time to
set up a huge week for United.
Ralf Rangnick's men face a
daunting trip to Liverpool on Tuesday before facing Arsenal next weekend.
"Ronaldo has scored three
very important goals for us," said De Gea.
"We know we aren't playing
very well but we got three points. We should control the game more against
Norwich at home."
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