Managing Cristiano Ronaldo is “challenging,” interim Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick said on Saturday, after the 37-year-old rolled back the years with a hat-trick to beat Tottenham 3-2 and keep Manchester United’s chances of playing in the UEFA Champions League next season alive.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner had scored just once in his previous 10 games, but three fantastic finishes took Ronaldo clear as the highest scorer in professional men’s soccer history, according to FIFA’s records, with 807 goals for club and country.
Ronaldo’s second spell at Old Trafford has so far proven to be an anti-climax with his poor form sparking debate over whether his powers are waning.
Photo: AFP
He missed United’s thrashing in the Manchester derby last weekend and was criticized for a perceived lack of commitment, as he jetted off to Portugal to rehab a hip injury rather than watch his teammates lose 4-1 at the Etihad after reports he would have been dropped by Rangnick even if fit.
“It is challenging with players like him, but he showed today he still has the quality to play for Manchester United,” Rangnick said. “He’s part of the team and if we want to be successful, we have to do it together.”
“Today it was his best performance, at least since I arrived. Not only because he scored three goals, but he was also energetically good today and part of the whole team when we had to defend. A top performance by him, but also the rest of the team,” Rangnick added.
Victory lifts United back into fourth, although they are just two points ahead of Arsenal who have four games in hand.
A fifth defeat in eight league games is another blow to Tottenham’s hopes of a top-four finish as they remain seventh, now five points behind United.
“It’s difficult to explain this loss,” Spurs manager Antonio Conte said. “I think we didn’t deserve to lose, but at the same time, we need to understand how we can improve.”
In front of seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, Ronaldo was eager to show his own greatness, as he was restored to Rangnick’s starting lineup as one of five changes, with Bruno Fernandes the notable absentee due to illness.
It took just 12 minutes for him to make his mark with a stunning strike into the top corner from outside the penalty box.
A Tottenham equalizer was only a matter of time, but within three minutes, United were back in front thanks to a landmark goal for Ronaldo.
He turned home Jadon Sancho’s inviting cross to surpass Austria-Czech striker Josef Bican.
After a second equalizer arrived for Conte’s men, they succumbed again to Ronaldo’s predatory instincts.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS