Picture Credit: Twitter
Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo smashed a scintillating hat-trick against Norwich City FC as Manchester United beat the Canaries 3-2. Ronaldo helped the Red Devils scavenge important three points as they are fifth on the table now. United’s chances for making in the top four are still alive as other teams contesting for the spot like Arsenal and Tottenham lost their respective games.
The 37-year-old started scoring with an easy tap opportunity created by Swedish forward Anthony Elanga in the seventh minute. Then CR7 smashed a trademark header delivered by Alex Telles 23 minutes later from the corner. Ronaldo completed his hat-trick as he smashed a 20-yard free kick in the 76th minute to win United the match.
Check out the video of Ronaldo's free-kick here:
After the match, Manchester United's keeper David de Gea also praised Cristiano for his hattrick. He said, "Ronaldo has scored three very important goals for us. We know we aren't playing very well but we got three points. We should control the game more against Norwich at home. A massive win for us. We still have a chance to finish top four and we have to fight for it. We will fight for the top four until the last second."
"Our defensive shape was the biggest issue for me today,” Rangnick
Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick talked about the team’s performance and their upcoming match in his post-match interview. He said, "Everybody has seen today's game, we all know what team we're playing on Tuesday. They might have the chance to win four trophies. If we play like we did today it will be very difficult to get even a point out of this game.
"Our defensive shape was the biggest issue for me today although I wouldn't say shape because I don't think it had anything to do with shape. I'm not really happy with our performance when we weren't in possession of the ball. I know there are no easy games in this league but we have to defend better than we did today no matter what the opposition", he added.